Infanta
by Night's Darkness
Summary: With Jack gone the team is faced with the most difficult decision they've ever had to make. Passions are running high, will they be able to do the unforgivable? Or will they fail to uphold all that they stand for because of their personal feelings?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Infanta

**Fandom:** Torchwood

**Rating:** PG-13 for difficult moral issues

**Pairings:** None really, mentions of all canon relationships. Team-fic.

**Summary:** While Jack is away the team are faced with the most difficult decision they've ever had to tackle alone. With passions running high, will they be able to do what Jack would do? Will they be able to do the unforgivable? Or will they fail to uphold all that they stand for because of their personal feelings?

**A/N:** I know I should be working on Tears, and I know I haven't updated Whispers in ages, but this has been at me for so long I couldn't resist anymore.

* * *

**Chapter**** 1**

It had been six weeks since Jack had vanished off the face of the planet, six weeks since Abaddon had appeared and four weeks since people had pretty much forgotten he'd ever shown up in his Godzilla-worthy glory. It was quite disconcerting how easily humankind could brush over trauma so easily. On the other hand, for people charged with keeping aliens and the like a secret, it was probably a god-send. Ianto was pretty sure Jack would roll his eyes at the suggestion, declare there was no God and no afterlife and everything was bleak. For a man with a billion-watt grin, Jack Harkness was a hell of a killjoy (or was that kill-hope?).

It had been remarkable how quickly the Torchwood Three team had adapted to no Captain. True, the first few days had included a lot of arguing between Owen and Gwen, a lot of silent grimaces from Tosh and a lot of snarky quips from Ianto to make them all shut up, not to mention all the flailing that had gone on. But now they pretty much had the whole thing sorted like a well oiled machine.

Gwen was running the show, or so the others allowed her to think. Really, they just let her do Jack's paperwork and answer the phone for people like the police. Ianto handled UNIT and Torchwood Two, along with his usual duties. Owen and Tosh were enjoying their 'specialisations' that kept most of the extra workload off of their backs, although Ianto had stopped helping them write up their reports. Owen was forced to type his after he'd written everything down, because, as is the law of Medicine, his handwriting was totally illegible to all none Medical creatures. Tosh had to remember to do that as well as the actual programming, something she'd gotten out of habit of doing since Ianto had started helping her out.

It did help that Gwen was able to get people to do things for her without pissing them off, it made dealing with the authorities so much easier. And so long as Ianto kept her supplied with coffee, she was even willing to do some extra paperwork that Ianto might miss now that he was filling in for Jack's absence on the field.

Since Jack had already been training Ianto for the field before he left, it was mostly a case of giving him actual hands on experience, so he and Owen had started handling the Weevils more often than the girls.

They worked very well, so long as they were careful not to step into deep discussions with one another, not just about Jack, but about anything very close to their hearts. Tensions rose if they tread those dark waters.

Unfortunately for them, the Rift was more than capable of digging something up that gave them no other choice but to dive in and try to swim in a storm.

~*~

"How much further Tosh?"

"Not much, about half a kilometre."

Owen huffed as he drove the SUV down a country road. The Rift had spat something out and he and Tosh had gone to investigate. It was somewhere outside the city and Owen had no intention of staying out here longer than needs be.

"Turn right here Owen."

"That's gonna take us off the road."

"Would you rather walk?"

Owen pursed his lips, and then turned the steering wheel and driving onto the open field. After a minute or two Tosh said,

"Ok, lets get out and look."

They did so, guns at the ready in case whatever they were searching for turned out not to be friendly.

"It's nearby… oh, it's moving." said Tosh quietly.

"So it's alive?"

"I'm getting lifesign readings, they look human. We could be looking at a displaced person."

"Oh brilliant."

Tosh smiled sympathetically at Owen as they plodded across the firm ground, eyes scanning the land for anyone. She knew he was thinking of Diane.

"Tosh! There." Owen gestured to some trees ahead of them. In among them stood a small figure. It looked like a child. A pale face was caught in the sunlight and it was clear the child was watching them.

Tosh and Owen both held their guns tighter, just in case, but kept them lowered so as not to appear threatening. In step with each other, they moved forward.

"Hello!" called Owen to the figure, who retreated a little, "It's ok, we're not gonna hurt you. Come out."

The figure did not move. As Tosh and Owen came closer they saw it was a girl, and she was dressed in what looked like a medieval dress, with a heavy looking headdress framing her face. Reaching her, Owen realised at once that this was not a little girl, but a teenager. A tiny teenager. She was barely reaching Tosh's chin even with her headdress. The brow of her head and the beginnings of red-gold hair peeped out from under it. She had pale skin, like Gwen and Ianto, and big blue eyes like Ianto's. Her dress was ornate, a leaf green velvet, with fur trimmed around the sleeves, and showed a tiny waist which the skirts flared from.

As Tosh and Owen reached her, the girl was clearly terrified, but looked to be trying to regain some semblance of pride and dignity, and she even managed to give them a haughty look.

"Hello there." said Tosh gently. "We're here to help you."

The girl regarded her, frowning, then opened her mouth. Two things struck Owen. One, no girl or woman that small ought to have such a husky voice. And two, she was speaking a different language. To Owen it sounded like French.

Tosh and Owen glanced at each other and then shook their heads, trying to convey they could not understand the girl. She huffed and then spoke again, this time in what sounded like Spanish. Again, they shook their heads. Owen mentally groaned. He knew for a fact that Ianto spoke fluent Spanish and Gwen was pretty good with French. It was bloody typical that neither of them were here. Looking thoroughly disgruntled now, the girl spoke yet another language, which, for all the world, sounded like Italian or maybe even Latin.

Tosh sighed, shaking her head again, then pointed to herself and said clearly, "Toshiko." Then she pointed at Owen, saying, "Owen." in the same clear voice. Then she pointed at the girl and raised her eyebrows in a questioning gesture. The girl sighed, put her hands on her hips and said "Catalina."

"Catalina. Ok, uh… I guess we should get her to the Hub and see if Ianto or Gwen can talk to her. We need to know if we have to send her back." Tosh looked at Owen, who nodded, holstering his gun. He made a gesture at Catalina to 'come along' and pointed at the SUV. Catalina blinked at it in utter bewilderment.

Owen heaved a sigh and beckoned again, reaching out to touch her shoulder. Catalina jerked away and started speaking in rapid Spanish, sounding furious. Owen backed off at once, looking alarmed. Tosh rushed forward, and made soothing noises, forgoing any actual words, and gesturing to Catalina to calm down. Catalina glared at Owen, then lifted her chin and relaxed her shoulders. Tosh gestured again at the SUV and this time Catalina strode forwards, actually going in front of them, like she was in charge. Owen threw Tosh a wide eyed look of disbelief as they followed the tiny young woman to the SUV. There, Catalina gave Owen an expectant look then glanced at the back door.

"Oh she's got to be kidding." muttered Owen.

"Just open the door, would you. You should be glad she's taking this all so well despite having no idea what's going on." hissed Tosh as she went to the passenger side. Owen sighed, reached out and grabbed the handle and yanked it, pulling the door open. It was a little amusing to see the girl struggling into the car, especially since she wouldn't let him help. But finally, she and her big dress were inside. Owen put the seatbelt around her and then climbed in. Tosh glanced back at the girl and said,

"Do you think she'll be able to handle a car? I mean, from the looks of her, she's used to horses and carriages."

"Well unless you can magic one up with a Bibbity-Boppity-Boo, she'll just have to take it."

Tosh narrowed her eyes at him, "How do women resist your charms?" she asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Owen snorted and started the car. The girl shrieked and flailed in surprise, then flushed a dark pink and clenched her fists in her lap and bit on her lip. She didn't make a peep all the way back to the Hub, and although Tosh threw her reassuring looks every now and then, she had tears in her eyes by the time Owen pulled into the car park. Tosh was the one who helped her out while Owen ran ahead, calling,

"Oi! Ianto! We need your Spanish, mate."

Ianto glanced up curiously from a terminal. "Oh?"

"Yup, got some medieval bird who doesn't have a word of English. I think she speaks Spanish, or if not, maybe Gwen can have a go in French."

Gwen emerged from Jack's office, having heard her name. "So it's a person lost in time."

"Yup." Owen jerked his thumb behind him just as Tosh gently led the now grey-faced girl into the Hub.

"Thank God I locked Myfanwy up." muttered Ianto, before moving past Owen and saying, "Buenos Dias."

The girl looked up at Ianto, and it really was up. She was dwarfed by the tall young man who was smiling politely at her. She swallowed and responded in kind. Then as Ianto spoke to her quietly, Tosh led her to the couch, where she sat down with a plop. The girl seemed to regain something of her composure as she spoke with Ianto in fast Spanish. Ianto seemed to be gently questioning her. As Owen watched, Catalina said in response to a question,

"Catalina, la princesa de Gales."

Ianto's expression flickered. Only those who knew him recognise a silent yell of 'shit!' in that expression. But he continued to question her, while Tosh brought over a glass of water, which Catalina accepted gratefully. Finally, Ianto straightened up, gabbled some more Spanish that was undoubtedly 'stay here please', and hurried over to the team, looking extremely worried.

"Not good. Not good." he muttered, as they huddled.

"What is it Ianto? Who is she?" asked Gwen, glancing back at her.

"That is Catalina, Princess of Wales." said Ianto. The others looked at him blankly. He rolled his eyes, "You'd better know her as Queen Catherine of Aragon." When they still looked lost, he sighed and said, "The first wife of King Henry VIII, the first one to be divorced. One of the most important Queens in English history is sitting on our crappy couch."

As one they glanced at the tiny young woman, who stared back with big blue eyes. Then Owen looked at Ianto and said,

"Don't knock the couch Ianto."

* * *

Opinions, thoughts, let me know!

Night's Darkness


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, this chapter might be a bit pointless but I just really wanted to jump straight into the real hardcore issue that this fic is all about, which will come to light in the next chapter. If you've already guessed feel free to speculate.

Also apologies if the other languages are crap. I'm not good with languages, plus, I had hoped to use more, but Word had major issues with it for some reason.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Dónde estoy?" asked Catalina nervously.

"Está bien, por favor no se preocupe. Usted está seguro." said Ianto, giving her that charming smile one would direct to lost children. Owen could only guess that he was saying that everything was ok. "Le gustaría algunos vino?"

Catalina nodded and Ianto disappeared into the kitchen. He returned with a large glass of red wine, and handed it to her. Then he left her alone while the others moved into Jack's office. Gwen took Jack's seat, an action that grated on Owen's nerves, but was really done for pure practicality.

"Couldn't you have given her tea Ianto? She's a bit young for wine." said Gwen.

"She's sixteen, Gwen. Besides, tea wasn't introduced into Europe until the 1600s and she's a century too early. I don't want to put the caffeine and other stuff into her system." said Ianto shortly.

"No way is that little thing sixteen." said Owen, glancing at Catalina through the glass window. She was about four foot eight, tiny and chubby cheeked.

"Well she is." said Ianto, folding his arms.

"Ok, when and where is she from and how important is she to history?" asked Gwen, resting her hands on Jack's desk. Her engagement ring glittered with the movement.

"It's January 1502 for her, she was in Ludlow castle with her husband and-"

"Husband?" blurted Gwen, eyes widening.

"Her grand-mother in law got married twice before she was 13, and had Henry VII at 13." said Ianto pointedly. "We are talking about a culture of low life expectancy and early marriage. Teenagers are a recent invention. You were a child and then you were an adult in Tudor times, no period in between."

Owen pressed on, "Ok, so she's married to Henry, and we have to-"

"Did neither of you pay attention in school?" asked Ianto, shaking his head, "She's not married to Henry, he's only 11. She's married to his older brother Arthur, Prince of Wales, who's 14. They live in Ludlow. They married in November of 1501, and Arthur is going to die in April 1502. Seven years after Catalina will marry King Henry VIII and become Queen Catherine of England and Wales."

"And then Henry divorces her." said Gwen. Ianto shook his head,

"He doesn't start looking for a divorce until they've been married about 18 years, and this leads to the English Reformation. Basically, that little woman over there," Ianto pointed at Catalina who was draining her glass hungrily, "Is going to have a huge hand in completely altering England's religion, England's politics and England's royalty all the way to modern times, and, considering the influence of the British Empire, she's got an effect on the development of the whole of world history. If she's not sent back… everything will change."

Gwen looked from Ianto to Owen and then over at Catalina. Then she looked at Toshiko,

"Tosh?"

"I'll look into it, see when the next big Rift spike is due."

"We don't know how to harness the Rift." said Owen, "Last time we tried we nearly brought down hell on Earth."

"We'll figure it out." said Gwen, rising to her feet, "As Ianto said, this girl is very important to history and we have no right to mess with history. So we will figure out how to send her back."

"I'll go check the archives, see if there's anything there." said Ianto.

"Wait! What about Catalina? She'll need someone to help her communicate."

"Gwen she speaks Spanish, Latin, French and Greek. I'm sure one of you can help her out. Don't you speak French?" Ianto did not seem very keen to be tied to the young girl. This struck Owen as odd. Ianto tended to like helping people. Why did he want to avoid this one?

"Well… ok." said Gwen, looking a little unsure. "But I doubt my French will be good enough."

"She's spent the last few months trying to communicate with her husband in Latin when they've been taught totally different pronunciations. I sincerely doubt she'll mind."

Ianto left the room before Gwen had a chance to object. Tosh went to start the calibrations to predict the Rift activity and Owen hurried away before Gwen roped him into doing something else. Gwen drew in a deep breath and tried to recall her French as she walked over to Catalina.

"Bonjour, je suis Gwen." she said, smiling down at her.

Catalina looked up and seemed pleased, "Bonjour, je suis Catalina."

"C'est Tosh," Gwen pointed at Toshiko, who smiled over at them at the sound of her name. "Owen." She pointed at Owen who was pulling up a game on his computer. "Et l'autre homme a été Ianto." She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the archives.

Catalina nodded, then stared at Gwen clearly with no idea what she should do, then she asked, "Ianto, il est votre serviteur?"

"Oh! No!" laughed Gwen, feeling slightly uncomfortable. There were times when she had to remind herself that Ianto wasn't a servant, he did so many of the little things and always kept them fed and watered. Maybe Ianto saw himself as a stable boy, and they were the horses, after all who knew what went on in his head.

Catalina stared up at Gwen as Gwen's awkward laughter faded away. Gwen cleared her throat and wished she could give the girl something to do, to read, anything.

"Erm… what kind of hobbies did they have in Tudor times Tosh?"

"Ask Ianto."

"Right. Ianto?" Gwen flicked her comm. system.

"Yes?" Ianto sounded wary.

"What sort of things would a Tudor princess do for fun?"

Ianto sighed thoughtfully, then said, "Get her some needlework stuff. That'll keep her occupied."

"Would knitting wo-"

"No."

"Ok. Ok." Gwen was bewildered by Ianto's sharpness. "Where would I get that stuff?"

"Look it up, how'm I supposed to know where you find stuff for needlepoint?"

"Right, well… thanks."

A little miffed, Gwen flicked off the comm. and grabbed her bag after checking for an embroidery shop. She lifted a hand and gestured at Catalina to stay where she was. The Princess glared at her for behaving like she was a dog. Gwen fumbled for the French.

"Je… serai de… retour."

Looking rueful, Catalina nodded. Gwen hurried out of the Hub and climbed into her car. It took a while but she was able to get a large amount of the various bits and bobs. She'd pretended that she was a historian trying to recreate the style and method of Tudor England. It seemed to help.

When she got back, Ianto was engaging Catalina in a conversation. Or was Catalina engaging Ianto? Ianto didn't look very comfortable, but he was clearly going out of his way to be polite.

"I come with gifts for the Princess!" called Gwen, waving the plastic bag in the air. Ianto took it and held it open to Catalina, no doubt explaining what was inside with his rapid Spanish. Catalina beamed and exclaimed,

"Gracias! Oh, muchas gracias!" and she dived into the bag.

"Y'know, she is taking all of this remarkably well." mused Owen tapping his pen to his chin. "Why is that?"

"I may have told her this was God's way of testing her strength and virtue." Ianto said, flushing.

"Ianto, I'm shocked. Using God in your lies."

"No different from the Pope does while he makes his prostitutes chase chestnuts on their hands and knees naked." muttered Ianto. Owen blinked at him.

"I'm sorry."

"No one appreciates just how much scandal you can find in a history book if it's not a school book." said Ianto, sounding long suffering. But his eyes were twinkling.

"No, no. Go back to the naked prostitutes bit." said Owen in an earnest voice.

"Oh that, it was just an annual event that a Pope or two liked to do."

"But Popes… they're Popes."

"Yes. And like all of us they are incredibly fallible. And unlike most of us they had the funds to indulge their fallacies. Only…" Ianto glanced at Catalina, "Don't tell her. She's an extreme Roman Catholic. Her parents started the Spanish Inquisition, hell she grew up with it. And she's no stranger to blood… usually blood of the Islamic faith seeing as her parents also re-conquered Spain from the Islamic people who'd held it for years."

"So… current political stuff not so new?" asked Gwen wryly.

"Not even close to being new."

"Right, Tosh, what's the good word on the Rift?"

"It looks like we won't have a strong enough surge of Rift activity until… seven days from now."

"So she's got to stay here until then."

"Exactly. We don't even know how to send her back yet, so the more time we have the better really?"

Ianto glanced at Catalina, who was now beginning to lay out her threads across her lap.

"We may need to buy some new clothes." he said.

"You're right, she can't wear that all the time."

"Not her for sure. An English woman maybe, but not her."

The three looked at him in astonishment.

"You really are a walking encyclopaedia, aren't you?" said Gwen with a grin. Ianto shrugged.

"I like the Tudor period."

"Do you also like the TV show?"

"… Their Anne Boylen is hot. That is the only reason I'd watch it."

"Not into Jonathon Rhys Meyers then?" teased Gwen.

"No. I'm too aware of how inaccurate he is as Henry. By the time he divorces Catherine, he's fat and he just gets bigger until his head looked like a potato."

"C'mon, you can't say Meyers isn't hot." laughed Gwen. Ianto drew himself up and folded his hands behind his back.

"I don't feel qualified to comment." he said, rather coolly and walked away, leaving Gwen feeling like she'd touched a nerve. But he and Jack had been… surely Ianto wouldn't have an issue with looking at other attractive men.

"He's in a weird mood." she said to Tosh, who nodded.

"Maybe it's just a bad week."

"But this is Ianto's thing. He loves history, and he just said he loved this period of history, and there's a living breathing part of it. Surely he should be acting like Christmas just arrived early."

"Considering Ianto's love for good timing I'd say an early Christmas would be something he wouldn't welcome." drawled Owen. Gwen and Tosh both smiled in amusement, but they were distracted when Catalina suddenly leaned forward and covered her mouth with a violent retching sound. They barely had a chance to stick a bin under her face before she was sick. The sound brought Ianto running back.

"What's happened?" he demanded.

"She's just been sick as you can see." snapped Owen, holding the bin as Gwen rubbed Catalina's back. "Might've been the wine. Or late after effects from the travelling through the Rift. Either way I'd like to check her out."

"That could be a problem." said Ianto as he followed Owen behind Gwen and Tosh, who were helping a pale Catalina to the Autopsy Bay.

"And why would that be?"

"Because Catalina was raised in an Islamic environment-"

"I thought you said she was a devout Christian."

"She is! But she grew up in the palace of Alhambra, in an Islamic life style, with all the covering of women included. She'll never let you touch her."

"Well I have to examine her."

"You'll have to get Tosh to do it, unless you want to enrage a princess who's used to getting her own way."

Owen sighed. "Fine. You'd better hope she's got nothing more than a tummy ache."

* * *

Next chapter real soon!

Night's Darkness


	3. Chapter 3

Apologies for the late update. Things are going to start getting heavy from here. Just a warning.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Catalina's bright blue eyes were huge as Tosh approached her with a needle. She leaned back in alarm and Ianto murmured in her ear to reassure her. But he was very careful not to touch her, as Catalina had snapped furious words at Owen for trying to lift her up onto the bay. Ianto had refused to translate, but Owen knew he'd been insulted. Now, Catalina glanced up at Ianto and he gave her that reassuring smile he'd perfected. It worked like a charm as Catalina relaxed a little and allowed Tosh to stand at her side.

Tosh rolled up the cumbersome, fur-lined sleeve of the dress and wrapped the tourniquet around the thin little arm. Catalina's brow furrowed and she turned to Ianto,

"¿Por qué sacan sangre ellos? ¿Mis humores no son desequilibrados?"

"Debemos estudiar la sangre. Debemos estar seguros que usted es bien." said Ianto gently.

"Yo no me siento mal."

"Es mejor estar seguro."

"Aie!" squeaked Catalina as Tosh inserted the needle into her vein. Her eyes widened in astonishment as the blood flowed like water into the waiting test tube. Tosh waited until it was almost full, then pulled the tube away and gently removed the needle. She unsnapped the tourniquet and smiled at Catalina, who pouted at her as she pressed some cotton wool over the tiny hole in her royal flesh.

"How is this girl Spanish?" asked Gwen quietly, eyes fixed on the white arm. "She's as white as any blue-blooded welsh person."

"Appropriate considering she's Princess of Wales." said Ianto, "Besides, it's not unheard of for Spanish and other Mediterranean's to be pale and red haired. It's a recessive gene, it pops up in the weirdest of places. Like Ancient Egypt, Ramesses the Great is infamous for his red hair. You can still see it on his mummy – ¿Le puedo ayudar yo Infanta?" he added, turning to Catalina as she started to get down off the Autopsy Table.

"¡Soy Princesa de Gales y usted me dirigirá como tan!" she snapped, "Y yo no tendré otro toque de hombre mí. Ese privilegio es para mi marido solo."

Something in Ianto's eyes flickered and he looked strained as he backed off and stood respectfully at her side.

"Lo siento a Princesa." he murmured. Gwen had no idea what he was saying, but he sounded oddly sad as he said it.

"Right I shall run this through the machine, and if it turns up nothing and she's sick again, then princess or not, I'll have to examine her properly."

Ianto nodded, "We can sedate her if needed."

"Call us when the results are back." said Gwen. Owen nodded and moved to do his job. "Ianto, coffee?" She pressed her hands together in pleading as she said this hopefully. Ianto nodded,

"Sure."

"Mr Ianto." called Catalina, beckoning him over. Ianto moved like he was dragging weights behind him. Gwen and Tosh watched with some amusement as Ianto, a six foot six strapping young man towered over a, at best, five foot tall girl who gave him an imperious look and said in a commanding tone,

"Deseo orar. ¿Dónde está su capilla?"

"Uh… sí, yo le traeré ahora." said Ianto, looking a little disconcerted. "Un momento, Princesa." He turned away and moved back to Gwen, saying quietly, "She wants to pray, I'm going to take her to the old chapel. Can you switch on the CCTV in there."

"We've a chapel?" asked Gwen in astonishment. "I thought God didn't exist in the world of Torchwood."

"That's Jack's Torchwood." said Ianto coolly, catching Gwen, who'd been teasing, a little off guard. "It's not been used for years, but I'm sure it'll do."

"Ok, well, will you stay with her?"

"You said you wanted coffee. Look, she'll go through the whole rosary no doubt, I'll have plenty of time to get some work done and then come back and collect her." said Ianto, twitching irritably. Gwen, wide eyed in some alarm as she rarely saw Ianto this unnerved, nodded. Ianto gave a curt nod of his own and walked away, saying,

"Follow me Princess." to Catalina as he went. Catalina lifted her skirts with two small hands and followed Ianto, her wooden heels making a soft noise with each step.

"What's got Ianto all worked up today?"

"I don't know." said Tosh looking puzzled.

"Maybe Teaboy doesn't like Catholics." snorted Owen.

"Don't be daft Owen." scolded Gwen, peering after Ianto and Catalina.

~*~

"Here we are." said Ianto, gesturing as he opened the door and tried not to wince at Catalina's appalled disapproval.

"It is filthy! How can you keep your House of God in such a foul manner?" she exclaimed, striding into the room.

"We… don't use it much Princess. We prefer to use ones outside this place. But since you cannot leave, for your own safety, this is the best we have."

Ianto glanced into the room and hid another wince, as he took in the bare room, with pews and an alter with just a table. It felt so wrong to be here, with her, this small, strong, pretty girl. And she had no way of realising the wrongness of this room as she swept into it and knelt at the alter and blessed herself, murmuring,

"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen."

Ianto heard the sound of rosary beads clicking softly against each other and the sound made his stomach turn. He closed his eyes and tried to think of something else. But all his stupid brain could come up with was a time when Jack had suggested they have sex in the chapel and he would make Ianto see God. Ianto had point blank refused and cut Jack off for three days for the idea. Jack had sensibly said nothing about it again.

"Pater Noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum." murmured Catalina as she knelt in the dust, her back rigidly straight. She was not a girl who was as used to comforts as the others probably thought. Catalina had been born on campaign, and she'd been raised by her mother, under the Catholicism of the Inquisition, to be devout.

Ianto glanced at the wall Catalina was facing, and wished there was at least a shadow of a crucifix on the wall, to suggest one had once been there.

"Ianto!" Gwen's voice came over the comm. Ianto turned away from the sight that was just so wrong and flicked his comm. on.

"Yeah?"

"We just had a Rift alert, we're heading out. Can you come and monitor for us?"

"Yeah. I'm on my way." he murmured. He glanced behind him at Catalina. She was now murmuring

"Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus…"

Ianto knew she would be a while and decided not to bother her. The less he had to interact with this girl, this young woman, of all the women in history, the better.

~*~

Gwen and Owen dragged the newly caught Weevil into the Hub to find Ianto leaning back in his seat, staring unseeing at the computer screen. He had a frown on his face and was chewing on his index finger. Obviously troubled. Gwen decided to talk to him, and see if he would finally open up to her about what was bothering him. Maybe he just missed Jack, because Jack would appreciate the history that Catalina represented. But that wouldn't explain Ianto's skittish behaviour around Catalina.

"Hey Ianto. Get us a coffee would ya!" called Owen as they dragged the Weevil.

Ianto jumped and looked around, a rather adorable look of surprise on his face as he realised they were there. It wasn't often they could catch him so off guard. He really was preoccupied.

"R-right! Coffee." he said softly, moving to start on the beverages.

"Is Catalina still in the chapel?" asked Gwen.

"She'll be done soon. She's on the last decade." said Ianto, clearing his throat.

"Last decade?" asked Owen bewildered.

"It's how the rosary is broken up." said Ianto.

"Oooh, suit you. What, you catholic too?" sneered Owen.

"No." said Ianto sharply. Owen looked a little startled at his annoyance. "That Weevil is drooling on the floor and I am not cleaning it up! Get him down to the cells."

"Right, easy teaboy." said Owen huffily.

Gwen and Owen dumped the Weevil and then went upstairs just as Ianto served up the coffee. Gwen noticed Ianto wasn't having one. This intrigued her.

"No having a cup with us?" she asked brightly.

"No. Couldn't stomach it." said Ianto, glancing in the direction of the chapel. "I'd better get down there and make sure she finds her way back up."

He hurried away and disappeared down the corridor.

"Teaboy doesn't want coffee? Maybe he needs a check up." said Owen, looking bewildered.

"Something's clearly bothering him. But I've no idea what."

"Leave him alone." said Tosh sagely. "He won't like it if you pry. Ianto likes to deal with things himself."

"He can't keep it all bottled up, it's not good for him." said Gwen, nibbling on her lower lip. In truth, she'd been worried about Ianto ever since Jack had left. After all, it was clear Ianto had become very closer to Jack, although she found that a bit bewildering considering what happened with Lisa. It also concerned her that Jack and Ianto had been doing more than just talking, as she couldn't help but feel Jack had maybe taken advantage of the situation. Ianto had been vulnerable and Jack was always horny. Gwen didn't really know if Ianto considered her a friend, but she considered him one and she didn't want him to go down a back road.

Speaking of bad roads, she glanced at Owen and said,

"Don't you start needling him, all right?"

"I've got better things to do than pester teaboy." said Owen dismissively, draining his mug. Gwen, understanding more intimately than she would ever be comfortable with Owen's mannerisms and behaviour, knew that was his way of saying he'd be nice.

"Did you get Catalina's blood results Owen?" asked Tosh.

"No, we had to leave before the computer spat them out. I'll go check them now."

"Good, Tosh, anything on the Rift?"

"Nope, still predicting all quiet for a few days."

"Ok, well, we need to figure out a way… ok, you really, 'cause you're the only one who knows how, needs to figure out how to send her back."

Tosh nodded, but Gwen had a feeling Tosh was indulging her and the Asian woman had already been doing that since the girl had appeared.

Ianto and Catalina emerged from the depths of the hub and Gwen almost opened her mouth to ask if Catalina had had a nice time praying, but caught herself just in time as she realised how stupid that actually would sound.

Catalina sat down on the couch and picked up the embroidery she'd begun earlier. She smiled to herself as she set to work. Ianto moved away from her and into Jack's office. Then he came out again as Owen called for them to join him. Ianto gestured for Catalina to stay where she was, and hurried to join him with Gwen and Tosh.

"Is that Catalina's blood work?" asked Tosh, gesturing at the paper in Owen's hands.

"Yep. And I think I know why our Little Princess threw up." said Owen, smirking, glancing at Ianto. "Teaboy, how you say, 'you've got a bun in the oven' in Spanish?"

Ianto's mouth opened, closed it as all the colour left his face. "Wh –what?"

"She's pregnant. And I want to be the one to tell her-"

"Check it again." said Ianto softly.

"Ianto, the test is accur-"

"Check it again!" he snapped, looking livid.

Owen's eyebrows shot up. "Ooookay." He backed up and turned back to his computer.

"Ianto, what's the big deal? Yeah she's a bit young, but she's married you said and-"

"No, no, no!! Crack a goddamn history book open for yourself for once!" snarled Ianto, chewing on his fingernails. "Owen!"

"Calm down, calm down." The computer spat out the result and Owen read them over. "Well, double checking, it's the same result. She's pregn-"

"She can't be! She just can't be!" groaned Ianto, pushing his fingers through his hair.

"Ianto, calm down!" ordered Gwen, grabbing his arm. "If she's pregnant-"

"No, you don't understand." said Ianto, looking devastated, "She's married to Arthur. She's not allowed to be pregnant."

"Why not?"

"Because if she's pregnant with Arthur's child the whole of history will be forever altered."

"But she is pregnant."

"I know." said Ianto heavily, "But when we send her back… we'll have to make sure she isn't."

* * *

I'll try to have an update as soon as possible. Reviews are great encouragement.

Night's Darkness


	4. Chapter 4

It's been a while since I updated this, but I can't see it being much longer, I think Tears' plotbunny ate this one. A worrying thought.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

There was a long moment of horrible silence as they tried to absorb what Ianto was implying. Then –

"No!" said Gwen loudly. Ianto sighed,

"There's no choice Gwen. We have to-"

"No way Ianto! There is no way we are going to kill her baby." snapped Gwen, almost red-faced with disbelief and fury.

"Gwen, I don't want to do it! Never would!" snapped Ianto. "But what else can we do?"

"I don't know! But we're not forcing her to have an abortion. No way!" said Gwen passionately, jabbing her index finger into Ianto's chest to emphasis her point. A muscle twitched in Ianto's jaw. Tosh glanced between them as Owen rolled his eyes.

"Gwen, maybe-" Tosh tried to interrupt, but Gwen burst out,

"I don't know what's the matter with you today Ianto. Or why you seem to hate this poor girl, but you are not killing her baby because you've got issues."

There was a nasty silence, during which time Ianto paled and regarded Gwen like she'd just slapped him, Owen tossed the blood results down, Tosh looked in the direction of the utterly silent Catalina and Gwen's eyes flickered with what might have been regret. Then, without a single word, Ianto spun on his heels and marched out of the medical bay, and they heard the alarms of the cog door, signifying his leaving. Gwen's finger was still pointed at where his chest had been, her eyes bugging out a little.

"Nice one Gwen." said Owen, rolling his eyes, "You just chased away our translator."

This was enough to revive Gwen as she whirled around and snapped,

"You heard what he said!"

"I heard that according to history, Catalina didn't have a baby with her current husband, and that we shouldn't screw with timelines."

"But there has to be another way." said Gwen at once, looking at Tosh for help. But Tosh's eyes were shuttered, her anger at Gwen's accusation towards Ianto covered with icy calm.

"Have you a suggestion?" she asked, folding her arms as she regarded Gwen like she was expecting a stupid answer.

"Well… we could always… I mean… there has to be something we can do!" protested Gwen, sounding heartbroken. "We can't just go up there and tell her she's pregnant and that we have to kill her baby."

"We don't have to tell her." said Owen quietly, sitting heavily on his stool. Gwen and Tosh both looked at him and he shrugged, "Look, she's going to have to be retconned anyway, so she'll forget all about this. Why upset her about a baby she's never gonna remember? We could just put her to sleep, and I can-"

"That's disgusting!" said Gwen in horror.

"That's Torchwood, luv." said Owen calmly. He did not look happy about this turn of events, but he had a resignation about him that told them he would do what he had to.

"No, no there has to be another way, I'll find another way!" said Gwen, moving back up the stairs, and striding towards Jack's office. "There's always another way." she called back to Tosh and Owen. She brushed past the silent, staring, Catalina, whose blue eyes followed her curiously.

Tosh and Owen shared a look and both of them knew what the other was thinking. If only Jack were here…

* * *

Gwen scribbled on a pad as she tried to think of a reasonable idea with which they could save Catalina's unborn baby. So far the only idea she'd had was to let Catalina stay with them for the nine months until she gave birth. But that would mean nine months worth of memories to erase after and there was still the agonising problem of taking her baby from her and doing… what? Giving it up for adoption? It was the only thing that made sense. Gwen pinched the bridge of her nose and wished Ianto would come back. He'd been gone for two hours now and Gwen was starting to realise she'd been way out of line to accuse him of not caring. Of course Ianto cared. He was the one who looked after all of them after all. He didn't have to, but he did.

Exhaling in frustration, Gwen dropped her pen onto the pad and decided to get some air. And maybe find Ianto and talk to him while she was at it. She just couldn't leave things as they were. And so, of their own volition, her fingers quickly typed in a command to find Ianto's phone. She was rather surprised to find that it landed on a nearby church. Now burning with curiosity as well, she grabbed her bag and hurried out before Owen or Tosh could realise what she was doing. Catalina would be fine without a translator for another while. She'd been sewing for ages now. Gwen couldn't understand how she wasn't bored out of her skull.

The church was close enough that she could walk to it, so she got her air as she went. It was a normal, nice enough Presbyterian church of Wales, with a tall steeple that seemed to beckon to people across streets. Gwen drew her coat around herself and hopped over the threshold like a schoolgirl who felt naughty. She had been raised as a member of the Church in Wales, although she had always preferred the term Anglican because she had imagined she was making friends with angels when she prayed.

Since joining Torchwood, God and church had played even less of a role in Gwen's life than they had before. So being in the church, never mind the 'wrong' church, made her feel like she was sure to get a scolding from some sort of authority or another. It didn't really look that different from any church she'd ever been in, save that it was bigger, and rather empty.

It was easy to spot Ianto, even if he'd scrunched his six-foot-something frame into that of a smaller man as he leaned forward, shoulders meeting his ears. Gwen thought he looked like he was grieving, and she regretted her sharp words even more. Slowly, in case she startled him, she approached. When she reached the pew he was sitting on she reached out slowly.

Ianto still nearly jumped out of his skin when her fingers made contact with his shoulder. He whirled around and stared up at her in alarm. Then he flushed and looked away, as if ashamed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked gruffly, accent thick with emotions Gwen had all but accused him of not having.

"Wanted to come and apologise to you. I shouldn't have said what I did."

Ianto made a sound that might have been a snort, and he said in a tight voice, "Just because I don't shout my opinions and feelings in everyone's faces doesn't mean I don't have them!"

Gwen's face grimaced a little as she acknowledged the truth. "I know. I'm sorry. I lost my temper and… well I'm sorry."

Ianto nodded shortly, and said nothing. After a few moments, his hands twitched and then, as Gwen watched, they slowly came up to press together in the easily recognisable sign of prayer. He seemed to be waiting for her to mock the action, so she just squeezed his shoulder a tiny bit and then dropped her hand into her lap. She sat back and waited, biting her tongue to stay silent. She would give Ianto his time.

Ianto was silent for a long time, his eyes sliding shut when he realised she would say nothing and clenching tight as his fingers curled around each other to clutch tight. He seemed to be praying, or thinking, desperately. Gwen wondered if he missed Jack as much as she did, and then realised with a flip of her stomach, he probably missed him more.

At some point, Gwen had clasped her hands and bowed her head.

* * *

"I don't dislike her."

Gwen almost jumped at the sound of Ianto's voice. After an hour at the church he had gotten to his feet and they had walked out without a word. Now they were strolling around the Bay, Ianto's hands deep in his pockets and his shoulders still hunched.

"I know you don't." she replied truthfully. "But… what is it about her that makes you so… uncomfortable?"

Ianto slowed his steps, eyes on the ground and then came to a complete stop. He bit his lower lip and said,

"I look at her… and there's so many things to think when I see her. And it all culminates in this awful… guilt."

"Guilt?" Gwen turned on the balls of her feet so she was in front of Ianto, silently entreating him to look at her. Ianto swallowed and looked up, squinting against a sharp wind as he stared out at the water.

"See… the way I think, I can't help but make all the connections I can, so I can't look at Catalina and not see everything that will happen."

"What, you mean Arthur dying and Henry divorcing her?" asked Gwen, puzzled.

"Not just that… all of it!" said Ianto, his voice rising as he spoke. "This girl has her whole life ahead of her and she has no idea what's to come. She doesn't realise her husband will die. She doesn't know that she'll be humiliated and degraded by her father-in-law because he wants money from her parents. She doesn't know that Henry will marry her, but will blame her for the five babies she'll carry and loose as stillborns or SIDS deaths. She doesn't know that she'll loose her only daughter, because she refused to give up on her marriage.

"When she refuses to give in to Henry and fights the divorce, Henry tries to force his hand by separating the two, even when Mary was ill, and when Catherine was dying." Ianto grimaced and looked at the sky, "She is going to die alone, without friends or family at her side, and begging for her husband to come see her one last ti-_me_." Ianto's voice cracked on the final syllable. Gwen didn't think she'd ever heard him say so many words in one go. He dropped his chin and sniffled in way that made Gwen want to hug him, although she wisely restrained herself. She settled for saying gently,

"But Ianto… you said it yourself, there's nothing we can do. You can't tell her what's going to happen. That's not our fault. You shouldn't feel guilty for that."

"That's not…" Ianto swallowed, and said in a quieter voice, "That's not all of it."

"Well, what else is it? Come on Ianto, tell me." pressed Gwen, astonished at the sheer weight of Ianto's words as he spoke, at the intensity of his empathy. How had she never seen this before from him?

"I was… I was raised as a Presbyterian. I know the prayers in my sleep. But… I look at her and I feel guilty."

"Because she's Catholic? But loads of people are still Catholic-"

"But she's the place where it really started for the England." cried Ianto, his hands dragging out of his pockets to give an uncharacteristic wild gesture. "If she'd been able to have a son, then the religion that she was so devoted –so genuinely devoted to –would never have been overturned. Henry himself was a loyal Catholic, he never converted himself, and he didn't like the radicals who wanted full blown Protestantism. He just wanted a son to rule his kingdom."

Before Gwen's eyes, Ianto seemed to wilt, stepping back from her and turning to the side. His hands returned to his pockets and he dropped his chin again, looking embarrassed at his outburst. Gwen moved closer and touched his arm, just at the point of the elbow, wordlessly trying to coax him into talking again. She wanted to understand what he was thinking, because she was quite certain she was seeing that same passion that had terrified her so much when it had been focused on saving Lisa. And now it was directed at a tiny little girl with big blue eyes who had no idea the effect she had had on the team. For a moment, Gwen wondered what it would be like to have that passion focused on her, and felt a warm stirring inside her, the same kind Jack's smile could arouse. But Ianto's next words killed the warmth and she just felt an ache,

"Catherine… Catalina, who probably is already dreaming about that little boy she's so sure she's going to have… her inability to have one will cause England to turn away from what she believes with complete conviction, built upon years watching her parents fight for the Catholic Church, built upon fervent conviction and bloodshed… can you even imagine how she will feel? To have everything you ever believed in, that your parents and siblings fought for and so many people you grew up with died for, cast aside because you failed to do something you should have been able to do. Something you were expected to do. Something you couldn't do but you didn't know why, and all the while no one seems to care that you've lost children…"

Why did Gwen suddenly have a feeling there was a personal tinge to Ianto's words, beyond simple compassion? Swallowing, she stepped closer and pressed her hand to Ianto's back, rubbing gently as he sucked in a deep breath.

"I hate what we have to do to her, it's just so unfair. But… we don't have a right to mess with history, and this is such important history…"

"I know. I've been going over it in my head, trying to think of some way we can win. I even thought if we let her have the baby, maybe I could adopt it or something." said Gwen with a wry grin. Ianto gave a weak smile.

"Too risky. She has to go back soon."

"Yeah I know… and would doing that be any better than aborting it? She'll never know what happened either way."

Ianto shrugged, "I don't want to kill it. But… we've no right to mess with history, even if it makes us feel better."

Gwen had never been a fan of history in school, and right now, as it forced her to make such a despicable choice, she hated it.

But she had to make a choice. She was leading the team now, and she knew Jack would have had it done already. So she gently linked arms with Ianto and tugged him towards the Tourist Entrance, squeezing his elbow with hers.

"C'mon you daft sod."

* * *

I'm not as happy with this chapter as I'd like to be. It feels rushed. Let me know what you think!

Night's Darkness


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **So sorry about the delay with this update, but the Tears plotbunny keeps trying to eat the other plotbunnies, so they had to go into hiding. That and work got in the way of actual creativity.

Also, I have no idea why this turned so philosophy-y towards the end… oh well.

And, if the Spanish sucks, apologies. I had to put my faith in an online translator.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Owen and Tosh were waiting for them when they came back. Catalina was sleeping on the couch, curled up like a child. Gwen could barely look at her knowing what they had to do to her.

"How long will it take you to be ready to do it Owen?"

Owen sighed, "I'd like to take a day or two before I do it. I've never actually done a termination before, so I want to make sure I make no mistakes."

"Maybe you're meant to." said Ianto quietly.

"Excuse me?" Owen looked almost comically affronted.

"Maybe you're meant to make a mistake. There was never… it was never explained why Catherine had six failed pregnancies out of seven. Maybe something we do here is the cause."

Owen scowled, "You want me to deliberately mess up?"

"No! But… we don't know why Henry and Catherine had such difficulties."

"Wait… didn't Anne Boleyn have trouble too?" asked Gwen, the thought niggling at her as it came to the foreground.

"Well… yes." said Ianto carefully. "She had two, maybe three miscarriages. The evidence is difficult to find."

"She also had an extra finger, didn't she?" said Gwen, more recollections coming back to her, although none of them were about Catalina.

Ianto shook his head. "Her body was exhumed and studied. No extra fingers. It was put about by a Bishop who wanted to damn her. He'd never seen her, but claimed she had all sorts of witch-markers, like a protruding tooth and an extra finger. She wasn't beautiful by the Tudor standards, but Henry wouldn't have looked at her twice if she'd been deformed."

"I've seen her painting, I thought she was beautiful." said Tosh, looking between Ianto and Gwen.

"I said Tudor standards. They liked blondes. And red-heads if they were powerful."

"How the ginger has fallen." snorted Owen. Ianto rolled his eyes. Owen ignored him, saying, "Anyway, if Anne Boleyn and Catalina are gonna have problems, it must have been Henry who was the problem."

"Not if Anne was Rhesus negative." said Ianto with a weary sigh, "And current studies suggest that might have been what her problem was."

"Well, fuck." said Owen in an incredulous tone. "This is why I hate history. Nothing's clear cut."

"What's Rhesus negative?" asked Gwen, looking around in bafflement.

"Y'know how you're either a positive or negative blood type?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if you're a positive blood type, it means you have the rhesus antigen in your bloodstream. If you're negative you don't. It's not a big deal unless positive blood mixes with negative blood, say during childbirth. If the baby is positive and the mother is negative, and some of the baby's blood gets into the mother's, then the mother's body reacts like it's a bacterial infection, designing its own antibodies against the rhesus. If that happens, the next time the mother is pregnant her body might see the foetus as an attack on the mother's system, and the antibodies will go straight for it. It means the mother is very likely to miscarry." explained Owen.

"Which is what seems to have happened to Anne Boleyn. Her first pregnancy with Elizabeth I was fine. But then she miscarried every time after, which was why Henry had her head cut off." said Ianto with a distasteful grimace.

"Just because she couldn't have a boy?"

"Yep."

Gwen bristled on behalf of her gender. "What a load of bullocks!"

"Indeed. But England was worried about having another Matilda. They didn't think a woman could rule –like most of Europe."

"Ok, this is getting us off track. Ianto, have you any idea why Catalina couldn't conceive? Any idea at all?"

"No. And she came from a fertile family. Her mother had six living children that reach adulthood, and her sister Maria had nine. Unless depression and madness cause infertility, and in that case the kind of infertility that results in stillborns and early baby deaths, not early or middle-term miscarriages."

"Syphilis?" said Owen at once.

"Used to be the primary theory, but Henry would have been treated for it if he'd had it, but there's no record of him having the symptoms or getting treated with mercury."

"Mercury?" Tosh gaped at him, "But mercury's poisonous."

"It's also very cool. It looks like silver, but it's a liquid. Anything cool was thought to have healing properties. It's like when Marie Curie discovered radium, it ended up in everything, from toothpaste, to bread, to condoms."

Owen gave a visible shudder.

Ianto let out a heavy sigh, "So… yeah I have no idea what the problem was."

"Could we risk assuming it was Henry anyway? Six wives, three kids, not the best record."

"We'd be taking a risk."

"But couldn't it be that it's nothing to do with us?"

"Wait…" Tosh had a look of dawning horror on her face, "What if… what if it was us."

"How?" asked Owen, looking insulted again.

"Well… we still don't know the full effects of Ret-con… what if one of the side-effects is infertility?"

Gwen's jaw dropped in horror. She had taken ret-con.

"It's not likely."

"We didn't know the effect it would have over long term until Suzie showed us. How can we be sure?"

"There's no way Jack would have let us use it if-"

"Ret-con essentially rapes the mind. Jack doesn't have a problem with that." snapped Ianto. "So what if someone was left infertile by it? Keeping aliens so super secret while we drive around in a giant SUV with our name on the side is far more important."

They all stared at Ianto, who blushed and looked at Catalina. Gwen had not heard him so bitter since Lisa. Was it something he had always felt, or was it because Jack was gone? Gwen was honestly not sure.

"Look, if it is the Ret-con then we have our situation solved." said Owen, trying to stay focused and not look like he was deeply uncomfortable with the situation.

"And if it isn't we still have to figure out what it is."

"It could be nothing to do with us."

"We need to be sure."

"How the fuck are we going to be sure? If we do something we might make it so she never has any baby! And what would happen then?"

"No Queen Mary I. No burning of Protestants, no book of Martyrs, probably no Queen Elizabeth and no Spanish Armada. England might never become the power it did and then there'll be no empire, which means no Queen Victoria, which means no Torchwood."

"Fuck it all to hell! So what do we do? Do I make a mistake or not?"

"What's her blood type?"

"B positive."

"So it can't be a Rhesus negative problem."

"No. Could still be an STD."

"Henry might've had something… but there is a suggestion she was the first woman he ever slept with. So…"

"So maybe Arthur has the STD and Catherine passes it on to Henry."

"Gross!" groaned Gwen, "They're brothers."

"And unless Arthur got it as a baby in utero, in which case so would Henry, it's not likely to have been an STD because Arthur was only fourteen, and he wasn't considered the strongest. Even if Henry, at seventeen, wasn't a virgin I'm betting his brother was."

"Ok, look, why don't you see what you can find out. I still need to perform the termination and I want to do some research?" said Owen throwing his hands up in frustration.

"Ok then. Gwen, you watch Catalina." said Ianto. Gwen did not object. She was not comfortable being around Catalina herself now, knowing what they were going to do. But Ianto's openness with his own feelings about her had won her over. So she grabbed some reports she needed to do and sat at her station, right next to the couch so she could watch over Catalina.

"Ianto, could you order some food?" asked Tosh as she turned back to the computers, "I'm still working on how to send her back."

"I'll do it." said Gwen quickly.

"Thanks."

"What should I get Catalina? I doubt take away will sit well with her."

"Erm…" Ianto frowned, trying to think of something, "I guess… maybe a salad or something. Although… Tudors thought raw vegetables were bad for digestion… but she would have liked them, I think. I don't know…" He shrugged, looking very unsure.

"Well, a salad will probably be gentle on her stomach."

"Then get her that. I doubt we'd be able to get her a peacock."

Gwen stared after Ianto as he hurried away. Then she glanced at Tosh who shrugged. Obviously Ianto was too distracted by the situation to stay focused.

'_Poor thing.'_ thought Gwen, still feeling a little overwhelmed by Ianto's words from earlier. _'He cares so much.'_

She ordered food and then thought about finding Catalina some clothes for tomorrow, and a night dress. She glanced at Catalina and knew nothing she or Tosh owned would fit her. She was too tiny. Little more than a girl. And here they were getting ready to kill this baby's baby. It made her stomach turn. She quickly buried her nose in work before she worked herself up over something she could not change.

* * *

Catalina ate the salad dutifully, and said nothing about the pizza the rest of them were eating. Gwen found herself itching to ask Ianto when the pizza had been invented. She had never wanted to know before, but she couldn't help but wonder if the pizza predated Catalina or not.

"So… erm…" Owen searched his brains for a topic they could discuss, even if Catalina could not join in, the silence was unbearable. "Why'd you like the Tudors so much Ianto?"

Ianto glanced up and swallowed his pizza. With his napkin in his suit he looked like a little boy, and Gwen would never tell him. It was too cute to risk him stopping out of embarrassment.

"I guess… well… It's an interesting time. I like most of history really, but the Tudors were so colourful it's hard not to be fascinated by them. Plus it was a bit like when the Anglo-Saxons came in, so much revolution happened in a short space of time."

"Yeah, it was around then that the culture really started to flourish, wasn't it? Like with Shakespeare and all that." said Gwen, nibbling on garlic pizza bread.

"Well… yes. Although I don't actually like Elizabeth I."

"Really? But she was so successful."

"By denying what she was. She had to surrender all her femininity to be seen as a good ruler. And she was always losing her temper and boxing her ministers' ears. Just like her father when he was at his worst. I guess I also don't like her because I find myself feeling sorry for Mary."

"You mean…" Gwen glanced at Catalina, who was looking most put upon that she could not follow the conversation. "Her daughter?"

"Yes. Her whole life was miserable, and Elizabeth made no effort to be kind to her. Granted, there was a seventeen year age gap between them, but they had been though the same experience of their father rejecting them because they weren't enough for him. All Elizabeth seemed to care about what her own triumph over everyone, including her sister, who had been one of her carers when she was a baby. She even flirted with Philip of Spain, Mary's husband who she was devoted to, just to hurt her." Ianto shook his head. "I dunno, just… Mary and Catherine always seemed to stand out amongst the Tudors because they were… lonely or something." He shrugged again.

There was an awkward silence, during which Gwen felt her stomach contract in sadness. Then Owen said,

"So… who's Matilda?"

"Huh?" Ianto looked up.

"You said the English didn't want another Matilda. Who's Matilda?"

Ianto stared at him for a moment, and then rolled his eyes.

"You need to crack open a book sometime. It'd do you wonders."

"Unless there are naked women inside it, no thanks. Besides, why would I need a history book when I've got you to pester?"

Ianto snorted. "True enough." he said sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"So go on, who's Matilda?"

Ianto opened his mouth, but Catalina cut across him sounding furious,

"Este es inaceptable. ¡No toleraré ser ignorado por mis sujetos!"

Ianto looked around at her and bowed his head,

"Perdón princesa. No quise decir el desacato."

"Usted puede demostrarlo diciéndome de qué usted hablaba."

Ianto blanched, while the others shared looks of frustration. They wished they could understand what she was saying. Ianto was getting stuck in the middle.

"Princesa … hablábamos sólo de la historia."

"Oí que usted mencionaba el Tudors, mi familia. ¿Qué decía usted sobre ellos?"

"Mis compañeros no saben como su suegro vino al trono. Yo se lo explicaba sólo."

"¿Por qué no sabrían ellos?"

"Como … porque ellos son la gente ignorante." Ianto's lips twitched with something akin to amusement. Gwen had a feeling he had just made a joke at their expense. It did seem to amuse Catalina though because she smiled a little.

"¿Sí? ¿Y usted no es tan ignorante?"

"Me gustaría pensar tan. Estoy orgulloso yo mismo en saber todo."

"¿Ah, pero si usted piensa que usted sabe todo, qué haría usted si usted aprendiera algo que usted no sabía?"

Ianto smiled, "Entonces yo estaría muy avergonzado."

"Y usted habría cometido el pecado de vanidad."

"Yo haría por supuesto la penitencia para tal pecado."

Catalina's smile widened a little and became coyer. "Estoy seguro que Dios le perdonaría."

"Yo lo desearía así. Dios es el más misericordioso."

"A aquellos que son dignos."

"¿Piensa usted que no soy digno, Princesa?" Ianto had a tiny smile on his lips as he spoke. Catalina lifted her chin and gave him a careful look over.

"Usted ha sido juzgado bastante digno por otros para ser mi voz. Quizás usted sería digno de más … favores divinos."

Whatever she said actually made Ianto laugh. And then Gwen realised that, right in front of them, Ianto and the Princess were flirting. The realisation made the colour flood her cheeks for reasons she could not figure out. Maybe it was because Catalina was so young, she was only sixteen after all. Then again, Ianto was only twenty-two, wasn't he? And it was not as if Ianto would do anything, for countless reasons. And Catalina would not even let a man touch her. So why did her cheeks stay warm as Ianto continued to flirt with Catalina, or was she flirting with him? Either way they were clearly giving as good as they got. And then Gwen realised why she felt so embarrassed. It was because Ianto never acted like this, not even around Jack, and they had been doing… whatever it was they had been doing. So for some reason seeing him flirting with this girl, a cheeky little smile on his lips, was making her feel like she had just walked in on Ianto in a state of undress. It was… disconcerting.

"Me gustaría ir para reunirme ahora." said Catalina. Ianto's smile fell at once.

"Erm … que es la Princesa imposible. Usted puede ir rezan, pero no hay ningún sacerdote aquí."

"Tienes el que traído a mí entonces." said Catalina in an imperious voice.

"Perdón la Princesa, que es imposible."

"¿Por qué?" she demanded.

"Es debido a la situación. Siento." Ianto looked embarrassed now, a pink flush in his cheeks.

"Bien este es inaceptable. Exijo a un sacerdote para servir la masa para mí. Hasta entonces, iré y rezaré para su alma, que no es dañado sin un sacerdote para proteger su alma." Catalina stood up and strode away, wooden heels clacking against the metal, skirts swishing loudly in the silence she left behind.

"What happened? One second you were fine, and the next-"

"She wants to go to mass." said Ianto quietly.

"But she can't."

"That's what I told her. But she then ordered me to get her a priest and when I told her I couldn't… well she told me to get one and that she would be praying until I did."

"Well then she'll be praying until we send her back. We can't bring a priest here. And I don't think we should let her out to go to a church."

"Wouldn't be a good idea anyway, pretty much all Catholic services are in vernacular now. She'd expect it in Latin."

"So even if we did as she said, she wouldn't be happy."

"Nope. Latin is the language of God."

"Despite the fact that Jesus spoke Hebrew." said Tosh raising an eyebrow.

"Whoever said logic existed in religion?"

"Well considering they think they're eating Jesus' own flesh and drinking his blood –gross by the way –no, logic doesn't come into it."

"They don't really believe it though." said Gwen.

"Actually they do. It's one of the biggest dividing factors between Protestantism and Catholicism. The Catholics believe in transubstantiation. That means a transformation of bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Christ."

"I thought it was symbolic."

"No, that's more Memorialism. When you get into Protestantism, it can differ depending on… well which branch you follow. It's confusing."

"And utterly pointless." said Owen with a snort. "Not like Jesus was a real guy."

"You don't believe in Jesus at all?" asked Ianto sounding surprised.

"Nope. C'mon Ianto, as if someone came back from the dead."

Ianto raised one eyebrow very slowly and stared at Owen as if he was an idiot. "Yes… except our boss."

Gwen had to fight a smile as Owen coloured and coughed out, "Besides Jack!"

"Anyway, you don't need to believe in the miracles of Jesus to believe he was real." said Ianto rising to his feet. "I, for one, don't believe in that story about George Washington cutting down a cherry tree and proclaiming he could not tell a lie. But I do believe Washington existed. One's existence and the myths about one's life don't always have to be cut with the same scissors."

The way he said it seemed so loaded with meaning that Gwen turned her head to look up at him from where she was sitting. Ianto picked up all the food stuffs left on the table and took them away to bin them. Owen scowled and shook his head, muttering,

"I've got better things to do than contemplate bullshit about a god that doesn't exist anyway."

Gwen frowned as he walked away and shared a look with Tosh. Tosh shrugged and went back to her computer, leaving Gwen pondering.

* * *

I won't promise more soon… seems every time I do it takes me forever to update. Best to just say, 'Until next time!, and 'Reviews are love!'

Night's Darkness


	6. Chapter 6

I apologise for the long wait for this chapter, but I didn't want to write a half-hearted chapter, and that was all I would have managed since another fic (and life) had taken over –this chapter took six weeks to write. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but I am working on it.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"Pater Noster qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum."

Catalina murmured the Lord's Prayer, her back straight, her eyes fixed on the wall and the rosary beads clicking through her fingers. She could not understand how this room was a church, after all it had no crucifix, no real alter or icons, there was nothing here that really declared it a church. And a church should be a shining beacon, drawing followers in by the eye and the heart.

"Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra."

Then again, there was much she did not understand about this place. Nothing here made sense. The women wore men's britches, lights shone from flat boxes and pieces of metal drew blood like a leech from her body. Strange circular food was served to the people, stinking of over cooked meat and melted cheese. As a royal, she had been given the better choice of fresh salad, but even that had tasted strange. She was certain she had tasted carrot, but the item was orange, not the usual purple-brown.

"Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris."

She had been wary of eating anything these people gave her, after all, she had no real idea who they were. All her translator had said was that God was testing her. She had not really believed him, but having encountered such strange machines, such as a horseless carriage, she was not entirely sure what to make of it. All she knew was that she would have to try to find a way to get back to Ludlow and her husband. Arthur was probably quite worried about her disappearance, and her father in law was probably doing everything he could, especially in keeping the information of her disappearance from her parents.

If her mother found out about this…

Catalina feared she would be the cause of her mother's final succumbing to the black sadness that followed her family line and laid so many of them low. Her beloved mother had fought it so hard when Catalina's brother Juan had died, exhausted by his love for his pretty new bride, and when Juan's daughter, born six months later had been dead, as well as Catalina's eldest sister Isabella dying giving birth to Miguel who died only last year.

Now… well Catalina feared that if her mother lost yet another child, then the madness which had already taken over Catalina's sister Joanna would overtake Queen Isabella and send her to an early death.

Catalina refused to be the one who caused her mother's death. But she had no idea where she was, or what she should do. These people did not even seem to care that she was a princess and infanta, barely showing her any kind of respect, let alone the respect due her because of her status. But Catalina said little. God did test the faithful, and she would not fail Him. And she would have to protect her secret. For if these people found out she carried the next heir to the throne of England, they might try to harm it.

True, the translator, Mr Ianto, had been quite polite to her, and he had even briefly chatted to her in the same way the King did at their meal, but that proved little. In court it was important to say the right thing to the right person, regardless of what you really wanted or thought. Catalina, raised to be upright and honest, despised this, but the English, backwards as they were, seemed to revel in it. Still, at least they were not as backwards as her husband's subjects, the Welsh. Most of them, even the lords, could not speak English or Latin or French. Catalina conceded that she herself could not speak English, but she would learn quickly. After all, the English were to be her subjects. She would need to learn their language if she was going to lead them well and justly.

"Et ne nos inducas in tentationem: sed libera nos a malo."

Thinking about her unborn son, Catalina smiled to herself. She had missed just one course, but she knew it was because she was with child. She had to wait for another month or two before telling anyone, because it would be a disaster if she announced a pregnancy that might be lost. But her mother had had six children, and Joanna had had three so far in her marriage. Why she should not be the same was unimaginable.

When Arthur found out he would be delighted. She knew there had been some question over whether he would be able to consummate their marriage, considering he was so young and not the most robust of youths, unlike his brother Henry who had enough energy for three. But Arthur had been perfectly capable of consummating their marriage, and although it had not been the most pleasant of experiences the first time, Catalina had been delighted to find pleasure in doing their duty as they had gotten to know one another.

With the heir to the throne residing in her womb, Catalina could think of nothing but getting home.

* * *

Gwen had gone out to buy clothes for Catalina. At first she had tried to pick stuff based off her own tastes, but then realised that Catalina would never wear jeans. So she found a small shop full of the more unusual clothes. She'd been able to find full length skirts and long sleeved shirts in bright green and white, which Ianto said were the Tudor colours. She had also found a long linen shirt that would do perfectly for a nightdress.

It was only as she came back to the Hub and set the stuff down that something occurred to her. Where was Catalina going to sleep? She couldn't stay at the Hub, could she? She would need to stay with one of them. But Rhys would ask questions, Owen was Owen, and Tosh couldn't speak Spanish. So that left Ianto. But Gwen wasn't sure she could bring herself to ask this of him. After all he had told her, she felt bad exposing him to Catalina even more, but who else was there?

Clearly Tosh had been thinking the same thing, because she turned her chair around to face Gwen and said, "Where's Catalina going to stay for the next few days?"

"I was just trying to think of that. She needs to be with someone who speaks the same language as her."

"So you or Ianto."

"But Rhys will ask questions, and there's no way Catalina will sleep on the couch." said Gwen, pushing hair out of her face.

"So Ianto needs to do it."

"I guess… but I feel so bad asking him. He's really uncomfortable around her."

"He seemed ok at lunch."

"Yes, but that's because he wants to make her comfortable, not because he is."

"Well, what other choice do we have? I can't speak Spanish, and I think we both know how bad an idea it would be to ask Owen…" Tosh let out a heavy sigh, "There might be one other option."

"What?"

"Well… Ianto has a spare room, which Catalina could stay in, and I guess I could take the couch, that way he wouldn't be alone with her, and I'd say Catalina would insist on it anyway."

"Oh Tosh you're a genius!"

Toshiko gave a small smile as if to say, 'Well I already knew that.' "I should go talk to Ianto, make sure this is ok with him."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to make him feel invaded."

They chuckled together and then Toshiko went looking for Ianto. Gwen pulled out the clothes she had bought and looked them over. Catalina was so tiny she had almost needed to buy children's clothes. Gwen hoped this stuff would fit her.

Ianto and Toshiko came back, Ianto looking uncomfortable again, but he nodded to Gwen.

"I can let her stay in my place, but I will need you or Tosh there too. For one thing, I cannot, will not, and will not be allowed, to help her undress." Ianto was pink as he said this.

"Help her…?" Toshiko looked at him like he had grown two heads.

"Tudor clothing was held together by pins, and Catalina is helped by her ladies-in-waiting. You'll have to help her." said Ianto bluntly.

"Oh, excellent." sighed Tosh, shaking her head. Gwen pulled a sympathetic look at the two of them.

* * *

Catalina took her short trip in Ianto's car rather well. They stopped at Toshiko's to let her get a suitcase together, and then continued on to Ianto's house. Ianto was a perfect gentleman to Catalina, offering her his arm so he could steer her around as needed. He brought her into the sitting room and then went back out to help Tosh.

"Thanks for this Tosh."

"No problem. No sense in leaving you to deal with everything on your own. You do that too much as it is."

Ianto gave a little grin at that. He then frowned and said, "Actually, do you mind if I leave you two alone for a little while? I need to shop for food and I think I can get her some things to keep herself occupied."

"I guess so… she still has all that sewing stuff."

"Great, I'll explain to her where I am." Ianto ran into the house and Tosh followed with her suitcase in hand. She watched as Ianto crouched next to Catalina and whispered to her in Spanish before rising up and returning to Tosh. "Ok, she'll be ok for an hour or so. I'll be as quick as I can. Maybe let the rabbits loose if you want some company."

"I may take you up on that." said Tosh, smiling at the thought of Ianto's pets.

"Ok, well… I'll be back." Ianto rushed out of the house and was gone before Tosh could say anything else to him. She sighed and glanced at Catalina who stared back with eyes that were far older than her years. But Tosh reasoned that at sixteen Catalina was not only well above the age of consent for sex, but she was married and expected to be a leader of some sort to her people. As Tosh reminded herself, in Catalina's time, the average age of death was 35. Ianto had pointed out that the idea of 'teenagers' was a modern invention. So really, Tosh had to think of her as an adult woman, not a teenager. But when Catalina stood up and her head barely reached Tosh's chin, it was harder to think of her as an adult. Tosh smiled at her awkwardly, then turned away and hurried away to retrieve the rabbits.

Ianto had two pet rabbits, who lived in a giant hutch which was kept in the back room. One was a massive Flemish Giant called Señor Fluffles –and Tosh had never been able to find out why he was called that –and the other was a tiny Petite Britannia, called Bart –after the Simpson's character. They were both spoiled and adored by their owner, who denied them nothing. Ianto was like a happy boy when he was playing with his pets, and Tosh was pretty sure he was letting them sleep on his bed since Jack had been gone.

Señor was alarmingly big, about the size of a toddler, he was really too heavy for Ianto to carry around with him, but he was a sweet natured animal, rather like a puppy. He would lick anyone's offered fingers until they were pulled away. He was also a bit dim, having taken forever for Ianto to housetrain. Bart was different. He could fit in Ianto's hand snugly, and was a complete brat –hence his name. He also had a strange dislike for men. Ianto he adored because he fed him, but, according to Ianto anyway, Bart hated strange men. He had taken to attacking Jack's ankles whenever Jack had been around. He was also very bossy, bullying Señor around as much as he could. However, in turn, Bart adored women, and seemed to especially like Tosh, considering he would always try to clamber under her top whenever she held him.

As Tosh opened the hutch, both rabbits came out and greeted her, Señor licking at her hand and Bart dancing around her in delight. Then Bart hopped out of the room and disappeared as Señor followed Tosh at a more sedate pace.

"Oh!" squealed Catalina in alarm as Bart came at her like a fluffy black bullet. "¡Oh, los conejos! ¿Han de ser nuestra comida?"

Toshiko froze, feeling acutely embarrassed that she had no idea what the other was saying. Catalina saw her expression and sighed, pointing at Bart who was trying to climb up her dress. "Conejo."

Toshiko nodded.

Catalina pointed at her mouth, "Comida?"

Toshiko hoped she was misunderstanding her, but when Catalina mimed eating she realised that she was being asked if the rabbits were for eating.

"No! No, no!" she said, appalled at the idea. Ianto would probably fall apart if he lost his pets. They were the only steady constant in his life at the moment. "No, no comida." she said, trying to ensure Catalina understood. Then she picked Bart up and held him close, cuddling him, trying to make the girl understand. "Pet. They are… amigo!" she hit upon one of the few words she knew in Spanish. "Amigos, no comida." she said.

"Amigos?" Catalina raised a plucked eyebrow at Toshiko and gave her a patronising look. "¿Significa una mascota? Así es tonto. Conejos no son mascotas, son alimentos."

"I'm sorry but I don't know what you are saying." said Toshiko, knowing it was pointless to even say so, but she could not make herself say nothing, surely that would be ruder?

Catalina pursed her lips and then sat down again, muttering, "Tonto Asiático."

Toshiko flushed, certain that second word had been Spanish for Asian. She decided to leave Catalina alone, lest one of them insult the other further. As she scurried away, she heard Catalina say something else.

"El Sr. Ianto podía hacer mejor que usted para un amante."

Clearly they were both wishing Ianto would hurry up and get back.

* * *

Reviews are always appreciated.

Night's Darkness


	7. Chapter 7

I've finally finished planning this fic out. Now I just need to actually finish writing it. But I think it'll probably be about three more chapters before the end.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Ianto returned home to find his rabbits scampering to greet him. Toshiko came out of the kitchen at once and looked beyond relieved as she spotted him.

"Oh thank god."

She went to his side and took the bags out of his hands, "Never leave again!" she said, looking flustered.

"That bad?" asked Ianto.

"Ianto, she thought your pets were for eating! It's bad enough she's out of her time, but I had no idea what she said to me, and I'm pretty sure she insulted me twice."

"Ok, ok, calm down. I'll see what happened from her perspective and we'll deal with it."

"Good. I'll take these and you do that." said Toshiko, carrying the bags into the kitchen as Ianto shrugged off the coat and hung it up. He then went into the sitting room, where Catalina was still embroidering.

"¿Princesa?"

She looked up and smiled, "Sr. Ianto, su regreso es más agradable. Su amante ha sido más mal conmigo."

Ianto blinked at her. "¿Mi amante?"

"Sí, la muchacha oriental."

Ianto flushed deeply. Oh dear…

"Erm… Pido disculpas por ella ... en un momento y voy a hablar con ella."

He bowed quickly and rushed out to the kitchen, face hot with embarrassment.

"So… apparently she thinks you're my mistress." he said to Toshiko, who dropped the cabbage in her hand.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I dunno how she came to that conclusion, but apparently you were improper with her and she thinks you're my mistress." Ianto had never felt so mortified in his life.

"Why would she… how was I improper with her?" Toshiko seemed to decide the rudeness was more important than the mistress thing for now.

"I did not ask. I'm sure it's to do with something small, like you did not show proper respect or something."

"Oh for-"

"I know, I know! But until we can send her away, it might be better if we go along with her belief."

"What, that we're…?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"In her mind, a mistress may not be the, well, best status for a woman, but it will mean she won't have to worry about me being improper. In her head, if I already have a woman in my life, I won't make any passes at her."

"…Why would she think you would?"

"She grew up in a segregated world, and it's not really proper for a woman, married or not, to be alone in the house of a man, without some kind of female attendant. This way might just be easier."

Toshiko stared at him blankly for a moment, then sighed and nodded.

"Ok, I'll go along with whatever you tell her."

"Great, I'll also ask her to be less racist against you."

"Racist too is she?" drawled Toshiko.

"Tudor England. If you weren't English, you weren't as good. I'm just relieved she hasn't twigged I'm Welsh yet. She'd have a very different opinion of me I think if she knew."

"Really?"

Ianto nodded rolling his eyes, "Some things never change."

Toshiko smiled and picked up the cabbage, bringing it over to the sink to wash it off. Bart took a running leap at a leaf left on the floor, but Ianto, not wishing to deal with a rabbit with diarrhoea on top of everything else, picked it up before the tiny bunny could get at it. Bart glared up at him, nose twitching indignantly as Ianto threw the leaf away.

"So what does she want for food?"

"I managed to find pheasant legs. I'm going to cook them slowly and see if she'll eat that."

"If?" repeated Toshiko, looking astonished.

"If." said Ianto firmly. "I'm not going to make her eat the stuff."

Toshiko stared at him for a long moment, then said gently, "You shouldn't feel you have to make up for what we have to do. We're not doing this to be cruel Ianto."

"I know. But…" Ianto sighed and dropped his chin, "I still feel like shit."

Toshiko nodded in understanding and picked up a carrot. "Come on, we'd better get started on the cooking."

Ianto gave her a grateful look and they set to work.

* * *

Owen pinched the bridge of his nose and growled to himself.

This was impossible.

He had a blood sample, but it had not yielded any sort of explanation for the infertility of Catalina. It had shown that she was a little anaemic, but that was not uncommon in pregnancy, the same with pre-natal diabetes. But there were no signs of any STD, or any other kind of infection that would explain it. And since he couldn't examine Catalina, he couldn't be more thorough. It did not help that while she was pregnant, Owen could not test her hormone levels.

His computer beeped and he looked around. It was a message from Ianto. The Archivist had promised to track down anything he could from Catalina's life. It appeared he had managed to track down the digital copies of the letters Catalina had written over her life, as well as letters from others about her. They were all long winded and Owen groaned at the thought of having to weed through them all.

However he settled in and started to read.

As letter after letter was read, something began to niggle at the back of Owen's mind. Something important.

It was only when he read a letter from the pope to Prince Henry wherein the pope tells Henry that he had the power to stop Catalina from fasting so much, because it would affect her health and her ability to produce children.

"… no way is it that simple!" he muttered. He quickly started looking up information on the condition and found that, yes, it did fit what Ianto had described. But Owen could hardly believe it was something so… modern.

He pulled out his phone and called Toshiko.

"Hello?"

"Tosh! I need you to do something for me."

"Ok…"

"You've got to help Catalina change, yeah?"

Toshiko gave a long suffering sigh, "Yes."

"Can you weigh her when she's undressed?"

"…Pardon?"

"Weigh her. I need to know what weight she is."

"Um… ok. Why? Do you think it'll help you figure out what'll cause her infertility?"

"I don't wanna say yet, but I think I may have the answer. Just get back to me when you have the numbers."

"Ok."

* * *

Gwen lay on her back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Try as she might, she could not sleep.

"What's up love?" asked Rhys, squinting up at her through sleepy eyes.

"Just can't relax." she mumbled.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

Gwen was about to say no, but instead, she asked, "Do you want kids Rhys?"

Silence stretched between them, Gwen could almost see the question making its way through Rhys' sleep addled brain. Then he let out a sharp breath.

"Jesus… erm… well yeah, course I do. Why? Don't you?"

"I… I dunno. I guess I never really though about it properly, it was like a background feature." Gwen shrugged, still staring at the ceiling.

"Uh… what's brought this on?"

"The thing is…" she said as if she did not hear the question. "I think I'd be really upset if I found out I couldn't."

"Couldn't?"

"Yeah, like… my body wasn't able to do it."

Rhys rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand, sighing thoughtfully. "Well, we can't be sure until we try I guess, or get a test."

"But what if I couldn't? What would that mean for us?"

"I… I guess it would depend on why you couldn't. I mean, 's not clear cut, is it? Not like it's always that everything's broken. Might be we'd need a surrogate, or maybe a donor egg… if it was you I mean. But we could always look at adopting... are we really discussing this right now?"

Gwen sighed and sat up, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spring this on you. I just… Ianto, my co-worker, he's gotten into my head. We were talking about… about Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife."

"The one he divorced, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What about her love?"

"Well, Ianto said the only reason Henry got rid of her was because she couldn't give him a son. I just… I can't imagine how hard that must have been for her, knowing that all she had to do was have a son, and being unable to do it. I just can't… I just don't think I could handle that."

"Gwen, you're not thinking I'm gonna go off if you can't have kids, are you?"

"No! No, nothing like that love. I just… I dunno, it's sad is all."

"Yeah, it is sad, but in fairness, I didn't think much of Henry when I heard about him in school. Seemed like a bastard."

"Yeah… yeah he does."

"Besides, as sad as her life was, she's long dead now. Not like we can do anything about it, eh?"

Gwen closed her eyes and nodded, "Yeah. You're right."

"C'mere." Rhys took hold of her shoulder and pulled her back down so she was back to chest with him, his arm around her. Gwen felt better when he was holding her, but she still could not sleep.

* * *

"I can sleep on the couch, really, it's fine."

"Tosh, if you want to, you can, but your back will be in bits and I don't think that's what anyone needs that right now."

Toshiko sighed and glanced at Ianto's king sized bed. It was not like they would be too close to each other, even as tall as Ianto was, he didn't look like the kind of person who tossed and turned in his sleep.

It would make sense to sleep in the bed. But she still felt embarrassed at the idea. It felt far too personal with Ianto. Seeing him in a t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms was strange enough.

Catalina had been settled for the night, but she had been sharp-toned with Toshiko as the computer expert tried to unpin her dress. It was a complicated process to say the least. After that, all Toshiko wanted to do was sleep. So she decided that being embarrassed wasn't worth a bad back and clambered into bed. Ianto, seeming satisfied, did the same and immediately switched the light by his bed off, rolling away from her and burying his head in his pillow. It took Toshiko longer to settle in, but the bed was surprisingly comfy and soon she was drifting away into a sound sleep.

* * *

Next chapter will hopefully be soon enough. Reviews and concrit is always appreciated.

Night's Darkness


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning:** This chapter contains discussions of abortion and religion which may make some people uncomfortable.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Ianto bit his lower lip to keep from laughing at the look on Toshiko's face as she emerged from his spare bedroom, having helped Catalina dress in some of the clothing Gwen had bought for her. The look was almost one of shell shock and trauma. Ianto had a feeling that if she had to deal with Catalina again on her own, her nerves would shatter. Catalina may have been a tiny teenager, but she was rather formidable.

"Ok, ready to go?"

Toshiko nodded wordlessly. Ianto swept an arm at the door and Toshiko all but ran out it. Ianto chuckled for a moment, before looking around.

"Princess!" he called in Spanish. Catalina appeared at the top of the stairs. Ianto smiled at her, "We have to return to where we were yesterday. Please, come with me."

"Mr. Ianto, must we go back to that dreary place?"

"I am afraid so princess."

"Very well, but please keep your mistress away from me. She's intolerably rude."

Ianto felt annoyed, and wanted to defend Tosh, but he knew it would do no good. Catalina had already made up her mind about Toshiko because of her race. He kept a smile on his face while rolling his eyes inside. He gently took the princess' hand as she reached him and slipped it around his elbow.

"Come along, I'm afraid we're running late."

Catalina nodded, but gave him a disapproving look. Clearly she did not appreciate being hurried. Ianto really did roll his eyes this time, but only when she was in the car. He and Toshiko shared a long-suffering look and Ianto drove them to the Hub. They led Catalina through the car park and found Owen and Gwen waiting for them.

"This is different." said Ianto as he made sure Catalina was settled.

"Yeah well, this whole thing is different."

Gwen glanced at Catalina, checking to see how she was, then turned to the others. "Owen, you said you'd figured it out."

"I said I think I have. I can't guarantee this is the cause for her, but it seems likely."

"What is it?" asked Ianto, wide-eyed.

Owen sighed, "Catalina is suffering from the same condition as so many girls her age do. Anorexia nervosa."

There was silence as they absorbed this information. Finally Gwen spoke,

"She's anorexic?"

"Yup."

"How'd you come to that conclusion?"

Owen jerked his head to his computer, "Ianto sent me stuff from her future, reading through it I noticed that she is big on the whole fasting thing Catholics do, to the point that the King got the Pope to tell her to eat. That will fuck with your menstrual cycle and can affect fertility in the long run."

"Would it let her get pregnant but miscarry late?" asked Ianto.

"Yup. There aren't many studies in the connection yet, but the stats seem to show that women who suffered anorexia need more c-sections and go into early labour. Today that's manageable, but back then…" Owen shook his head.

"Can it really be that?" asked Gwen incredulously. "It just seems so… modern."

"Anorexia has probably always been around. Fashion trends veer from thin to plump in cycles, plus think about corsets and foot bindings and god knows what other ways people have tried to look fashionable." said Ianto folding his arms.

"Besides, people are mistaken when they think it's all about image. I mean, the words mean a nervous inability to eat. But it could be because of stress, because of illness." said Owen, folding his arms.

"Not to mention that, like Owen said, fasting is a big thing in religion. Hell, Sarah Jacobs, the 'Welsh Fasting Girl' was a famous incident of a 12 year old who claimed she no longer needed to eat and everyone believed her, because it was seen as holy."

"Was she really not eating?"

"Eventually she was put in a hospital and monitored, but it turned out she had been sneaking small amounts of food to stay alive when no one was looking. Her parents didn't realise this, so when the hospital told them she was dying and needed to eat, they said no and she died."

"What?" squawked Gwen.

"Her parents were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to hard labour." added Ianto to pacify her.

"Insanity." muttered Owen, shaking his head in disgust.

"The point is, you don't have to think you're fat to be anorexic."

"Exactly." said Owen, "The stuff I read showed that Catalina could make herself ill by not eating."

"It was probably the only way anyone would give her attention while she was a widow. No one cared about her for years after Arthur died."

"Right. I think that is what caused her infertility."

"So what good does that do us?" asked Gwen.

"It means I can perform a safe abortion and I won't have to make a mistake to make sure history works out the right way."

"I'll go check the Rift again. Maybe we'll get lucky and be able to send her home sooner." said Toshiko, walking away.

"I'll see about the Retcon." said Ianto, walking away before Gwen could say anything to stop him. Not that she would. She had already decided she and her broken French would keep Catalina company, so Ianto could take a break. Speaking of which, Gwen wandered over to Toshiko and sat next to her.

"How'd last night go?"

Toshiko gave her a withering looking. "Catalina thinks I'm Ianto's mistress. That's how it went."

Gwen blinked at her, then let out a squeak of laughter before she could stop herself. "What?"

"She got it into her head that we're lovers." said Toshiko with a long suffering sigh. "I think she assumed we were living together –Ianto mentioned that people tended to travel between houses more often back then, so my collecting clothes was not seen as suggesting I lived there. But because I'm Asian, she doesn't think someone like Ianto would actually marry me. Apparently it would be beneath him."

"Someone like Ianto?"

"I think she believes him to be some sort of English duke or something. Such a man wouldn't marry an Asian. It'd be one thing to marry a powerful European woman for money, but not someone from Asia. So I must be his mistress."

"Oh… oh my." said Gwen, torn between amusement and embarrassment. Toshiko nodded grimly. "So… Ianto hasn't told her he's Welsh?"

"He said that letting her think he's English lends him more credibility. Most Welsh people couldn't speak English in that time, plus they were seen as second class."

"Fair enough I suppose." said Gwen, shaking her head. "I would complain about old racism being so stupid… but things haven't really changed, have they?"

"Only the targets. In some cases." said Toshiko, shrugging.

"Y'know, I used to be glad I lived now, and not in the past, because I thought 'well, we've learned more, we're more aware, we're not so superstitious'. But… really, has humanity really changed?"

"Nope."

Both women jumped as Ianto's voice pipped up behind them. They turned to see him smirking at them. "Considering that if you go to Egypt you'll find Ancient Roman graffiti that says 'Marcus Aurelius was here' and you can find that anywhere in today's world, humanity hasn't changed in the slightest. And I don't think it will ever change."

"Jack says it does."

"Jack is like a narrow-minded person from today, thinking that he's better because of when he was born. Only difference between him, us and someone from Ancient Rome is the amount of history and development that is between them."

"You mean that we're only different from her," Gwen gestured to Catalina, "because of all the stuff that happened between us?"

"Exactly." said Ianto. "We may be more open minded about sexuality, less attached to religion. But that does not mean we do not have a 'them versus us' mentality, we've just shifted targets. We're only less attached to religion because we've put more faith in science. Which is a detriment to us I think."

"Because you're ultra religious, right tea boy?" sneered Owen, joining them.

"Because our narrow minded idea of how everything has a right answer has streamlined religion. It's why we have issues like Creationism opposing Evolution. It's not because religion is bad, it's because we're all being raised in a world where there can only be one right answer."

"Yes, because evolution doesn't give an answer." quipped Owen, rolling his eyes.

"Evolution does not negate the existence of God." said Ianto firmly, folding his arms. "The trouble is we try to qualify what God is, and ultimately we fail because if God is God, it is indefinable. God is Everything, but also Nothing. But even that does not do the job of explaining it."

"But it wasn't any different in the past." said Gwen, "The Romans had Zeus and Hera."

"Those were the Greek names Gwen." said Toshiko, "The Romans called Zeus Jupiter, and Hera was Juno."

"But they were essentially the same idea." said Ianto consolingly to her as she flushed in embarrassment. "And it was different, but of course, without speaking to those in the past we cannot be sure how different. I mean, the Romans and Greeks do talk about a single God and a pantheon in equal realities, because the concept needs a simplification for the mind to try to access. Hinduism is both polytheistic and monotheistic –and some would say it's also atheistic and agnostic."

"How can it be all of them?" demanded Owen, "They contradict each other."

"That's kind of the point." said Ianto patiently. "Religion is not meant to make things clear. It's meant to take you outside yourself. You're meant to experience ecstasy in religion."

Owen raised his eyebrows doubtfully, "Ianto, mate, I can experience that just fine without praying to a made up god."

Ianto rolled his eyes, "Not like that! Do you know what the word means?"

"Nope, but I have a feeling you're about to tell me."

"If you don't want to know, you can go back to researching abortions!" snapped Ianto in irritation. Owen grimaced and threw Catalina an uncomfortable look. She was watching them with suspicion, one fair eyebrow raised. Ianto threw her a reassuring look, which did little to placate her as she continued to watch them, then turned back to the team. "Look, it doesn't matter. If you place your faith in science, fine. Do that. I don't care."

"I'm an atheist." said Owen, shrugging. Ianto snorted,

"If you're an atheist, I'm a Satanist."

Gwen frowned in confusion as she looked between them.

"I wouldn't put it past you tea boy!" snapped Owen.

"Hey, you're the one who let Abbadon loose!" retorted Ianto, turning on his heels and walking away.

"And you're the one who went along with it!" shouted Owen after him.

"Enough!" said Gwen belatedly, getting to her feet and pushing Owen back. "Owen, please go and keep researching."

Owen growled and nodded, turning on his heels and walking back to his desk, throwing himself into his chair, which rolled backwards with the force. He pulled himself closer to the screen and started working again.

Gwen sighed and shared a look with Toshiko. They were clearly thinking the same thing. Catalina couldn't be sent home sooner for the team's sanity.

* * *

Several hours later, Owen called the team together.

"Ok, I've been going over and over this." he said, "And I think the best thing is to give her a medical regimen of mifepristone in combination with a prostaglandin analog of misoprostol."

"What'll that do?"

"Mifepristone is used to soften and dilate the cervix. After two days, I'll give her a dose of misoprostol which will induce contractions to expel the embryo. Her blood tests show she's about 50 days along, which means it should be safe to do this without surgical intervention."

"So it'll look like a miscarriage?" asked Ianto.

"Yeah, should do."

Ianto narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, "Tosh, when can we send her back?"

"I think there should be enough Rift energy to do it in about two days." said Toshiko. "Is that enough time?"

"If we send her back after giving her the misoprostol, then she'll be able to pass it off as a late period, wouldn't she?"

"Probably, why?"

"I think she knows she's pregnant."

"What?" squawked Gwen, looking around in horror.

"She touches her stomach when she thinks no one is looking." said Ianto, once again reminding them all that he was far more observant than they gave him credit for. "If she does know, she might not have told anyone yet. After all, it's early and if she's wrong it would look bad for her. So she'll wait until the third or fourth month before telling anyone. But that doesn't mean that there haven't been speculations. So if we can send her back as soon as we give her the misoprostol, maybe we can make it look like a late period."

"If we wait, we can clean her up and she'll just have her regular period after a while."

"But can't it be irregular for a while after?" asked Ianto.

"Sometimes."

"So what if it is? And she tells someone she's pregnant?"

"Will it really matter?"

"Yes!" snapped Ianto, "I've told you before, she has to be able to swear she's a virgin when she's trying to stop her divorce. Saying she's pregnant now will destroy that line of defence."

"And that will-"

"It's her main focus of defence. It's the only way she can claim that her marriage is valid because her first marriage was invalid because it was never consummated."

"That's all she can say? Her only defence is that Henry's brother never slept with her?"

"Henry was determined to prove himself in the right in the situation. He convinced himself he was doing the morally right thing because in Leviticus it says 'If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an impurity; he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.' Henry decided this meant he would never get a son by Catherine. But if the marriage hadn't been consummated, and declared invalid, it had never existed, and thus he had no grounds to divorce her without being seen as the one in the wrong. Henry always needed to be right."

"So, Catalina's only defence was based around the fact her husband was a spoilt child?"

"And a passage in Deuteronomy that said if a man died and left a childless widow, his brother 'shall go in unto her and take to him to wife.' Looked at it that way, whether she was a virgin or not, the marriage was valid."

"Wait, the bible says it's ok and it's not?" asked Gwen in confusion.

"The Bible is basically lots of little pieces pulled together in a single tome. When it took on the importance that it did, no one would openly change it. They might reinterpret it, but not change it." said Ianto, shrugging.

"… and people actually think this book is worthwhile?" asked Owen with disbelief. Ianto sighed and shook his head.

"Not getting into it now." he said wearily.

"So, you'll give her the drugs today?" asked Gwen, returning to the main focus. Owen nodded.

"I'll need to go and get them. I don't actually have them to hand."

"Can you do that yourself or-"

"No I got it. I've a few contacts." said Owen. "And we'll need to monitor her carefully."

"She'll be at my house. I can watch her."

"Actually, I'd rather monitor her myself." said Owen. "Also, I think we could sedate her and leave her asleep until we need to send her back. Can you Ret-con her now?" he asked Ianto, who sagged but nodded.

"I could… but will it be safe to keep her under for so long?"

"It'll be a mild sedative. More like a sleeping pill. We can keep her hydrated and healthy with a nutrient drip." said Owen.

"It might be for the best." said Toshiko gently. The best for them, thought Gwen, even as she nodded. Ianto, looking utterly guilt ridden, nodded too.

"Ok. How long will it take you to get the drugs?"

"Give me four hours."

"Will she need to swallow them? Will they react with the Ret-con?"

"Oral consumption might be best. And I doubt it. But I'll check before you administer the Ret-con."

Ianto nodded and then muttered, "I'll go make some coffee."

The others watched him go, then Owen muttered, not spitefully, "You'd think he was the only one who felt like shit about this."

Gwen threw him an understanding look, "I know. But let's face it. He's the one who's had to spend the most time with her."

"You don't think he lost a child do you?" asked Toshiko out of nowhere, looking appalled at the idea. "And that's why…?"

Gwen shrugged, the thought had occurred to her too. But she wasn't sure if Ianto wasn't just very empathic with people naturally.

"Let's just get through this." she said, "We can all go and get drunk afterwards, yeah?"

"Sounds good." said Owen, shrugging on his leather jacket. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Gwen nodded and as he left, she found herself both willing him to hurry and to take as long as possible.

* * *

In case anyone was confused about the fact that Ianto didn't consider Owen an atheist, it's because he is going by the literal meaning of the term, which is 'without belief'. In his view many people who claim to be atheists are not true atheists, because they believe in science in place of religious belief, but it is still belief.

Also, I announce that I will submit to the requests for translations. Part of my reluctance was because I felt the story was better off without them because the readers who know Spanish are able to empathise with Ianto, while those who cannot empathised with the others. The other reason was purely aesthetic, I've written (and read) tales with translations in them and it never looks right, it always seems jarring to me. However, I will do what I can to give you a translation of what they are talking about in the future (and maybe in the previous chapters if I have time).

Remember comments are love!

Night's Darkness


	9. Chapter 9

This is the penultimate chapter of Infanta, and I have attempted to do a translation that looks ok. The two bigger bits of Spanish are at the bottom.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Ianto was sitting in Jack's office, behind the desk for once, nursing a glass of scotch. His sleeves were rolled up and his collar was open. The room's lights were off, but the light from outside was filtering into the room, highlighting the sharpness of his cheekbones. If it wasn't for the fact that he looked so dejected, he would have looked absolutely gorgeous and Gwen would have taken an extra moment to admire him. While she would never act on the impulse –not just because she had learned her lesson with Owen, but because it was _Ianto_ –she was not unappreciative of the younger man's looks. Far from it. Actually, she often found herself thinking that out of the three men in the Hub, Ianto was the most attractive looking. Owen was scrawny, but he carried himself with a raw sexual appeal that made tingles emanate through her, Jack was loud, bright and magnetic. Ianto was more like a classical statue, pale, well formed, elegant, _beautiful_.

Except right now he was just sad. Gwen walked slowly into the room, giving him time to tell her to leave, but he didn't. So she perched on the edge of the desk, her knee bumping his, and asked him gently,

"Did you lose a baby?"

Ianto sighed and shook his head. "Not me."

Gwen waited, she was learning that with Ianto, patience was everything. Finally he sighed and said, "My mum."

Gwen nodded carefully, not wanting to show her surprise. Ianto had never spoken about his family before, so she was careful not to show her intrigue too much.

"She had an abortion when I was six. We couldn't have afforded another baby in the house. I heard Dad pointing out that they had barely been able to afford having me." Ianto sighed again and tapped his thumb against the glass. "When I got older I realised I had come very close to never existing, if my mum hadn't refused to get rid of me. Strange thing to contemplate, the idea that my own existence might have been cut off before I even had fingers."

Gwen swallowed, the idea chilling her in her core in a way that she could not explain.

"I remember how… small she looked after she had it done. Not that she told me or my sister what had happened. But stuff I overheard let me put it all together. I think I became aware of women who lost babies, they always have that look in their faces, a private loss that I can't feel, but I know it's there.

"My dad loved me and my sister." said Ianto, a slight sharpness in his voice. "He didn't like pushing my mum to do it. But he had to think about money, how we'd survive. He was already working more than was healthy."

Gwen thought she understood. It had not been an easy thing for his father to do, but it had to be done in his eyes. Ianto continued, speaking into the glass.

"When I think of how much the loss of one kid can affect a person, and then I look at Catalina and think about how many children she'll lose and I just… I can't take solace in the idea that she will at least have a good life, because she'll die of heart cancer in a damp castle, having been thrown away by the man she gave her life to."

Sighing, Gwen gently touched his arm, squeezing. Ianto gave no reaction, but that told her he had accepted the comfort.

"Did you think about having kids at some point?" she asked quietly.

"No." said Ianto. "I suck at looking after them. My sister gave me my nephew to mind for an hour when he was a couple of months old and he threw up all over me and cried until she came home."

"Well that was just one experience."

Ianto shrugged, "I doubt it'll happen now. Doesn't matter anyway."

Gwen wanted to object, but she was pretty sure that it would not be appreciated. So she simply said gently,

"Owen says you can give her the Ret-con now. He's ready to give her the first dose."

"Is he sure it won't hurt her?"

"He's pretty happy that it won't have a bad reaction."

Ianto nodded, "Good." He swallowed the last of the scotch and got to his feet.

The others watched as Ianto prepared the Ret-con carefully, and then approached the princess, who was now looking very wary. Clearly she had sensed all the tension and was worried.

"Princesa, te necesito para beber esto, por favor." said Ianto gently, holding out the drink of wine. Gwen could guess he was saying, 'I need you to drink this please.'

"¿Por qué? ¿Hay algo malo Señor Ianto?" she asked. Clearly she was asking 'Why? Is something wrong?'. She was visibly getting more concerned, even as Ianto gave her a reassuring smile.

"Todo está bien, princesa. Es que hace frío y que necesita para mantener su fuerza hacia arriba. Por favor, beber."

Since Gwen knew frío meant cold, she guessed Ianto was saying 'Everything is fine. It's just cold and you need to stay well. Please drink.'

Catalina accepted the drink and sipped at it carefully. Owen had crushed the Mifepristone into the wine along with the Ret-con, so as long as she drank it all before she fell asleep, things would be fine.

"Princesa, te necesito para saber que han pasado la prueba de Dios con la gracia y la pureza. Quiero que sepas que te convertirás en la reina de Inglaterra y se le agregaron más aún que su marido. Su nombre se caerá de los labios de la gente en los siglos venideros." said Ianto very gently. He took her hand and pressed his lips to the back of it in a gesture that was full of formal respect and at the same time, seemed quite intimate. Gwen almost looked away in embarrassment and shame at what they were doing. But Ianto was sitting before the girl and seemed to be openly apologising in his own way. If he could do that, Gwen could watch. Catalina smiled at him, taking his chin in her hand and making him look up at her.

"Gracias, Señor Ianto. Cuando te miro veo que Dios te ha bendecido con la cercanía de su amor, que muchas personas humildes no tienen. Confío en ti, a pesar de que tal vez es el camino de una mujer débil. Sé que no me mientas, o traicionar mi confianza de todos modos. No puedo explicarlo, pero yo lo siento. Y cuando usted dice que va a ser una reina amado, te creo con todo mi corazón."

Her words were gentle and kind, clearly paying him a compliment. But Gwen could see it only made Ianto feel worse, especially when Catalina leaned forward and kissed the top of his forehead with all the loving nobility of a queen of lore. Ianto closed his eyes and his hands curled around the edge of the table he was perched on. Catalina pulled away from him and then drained her cup of wine, eyes fixed on Ianto, murmuring,

"Sanguis Christi salutare meum."

Ianto's eyes widened in surprise, but Catalina was already beginning to fall asleep, sinking back into their dingy couch, her long hair slipping out from under her headdress as it was knocked slightly and her blue eyes fluttered closed, the cup slipping from her hand and landing on the ground with a clunk.

Ianto swallowed and took several breaths before getting to his feet and bending forward to scoop the tiny girl up.

"What did she say Ianto?" asked Gwen quietly, "Right before she fell asleep."

"She said… she said 'the blood of Christ is my salvation'." he said quietly, looking down at the peaceful face of the princess. "I told her she had passed God's test."

"And what did she say?"

Ianto's face was quickly slipping behind a mask, a mask they knew well, but had not seen for a while, "She said she trusted me."

Gwen's heart gave a painful, aching thump as she looked at Ianto carrying Catalina to the beds that were kept for when they were stuck working for several days at a go, unsure which of them she ached for more.

And all the while, she wished Jack were here to reassure them that they had done the right thing.

* * *

1) "Princess, I need you to know that you have passed God's test with grace and purity. I want you to know that you will become Queen of England and you will be more loved even than your husband. Your name will fall from the lips of people for centuries to come."

2) "Thank you Mr. Ianto. When I look at you I see that God has blessed you with the closeness of his love that many lowly people do not have. I trust you, despite that perhaps being the path of a feeble woman. I know you would not lie to me, or betray my trust in anyway. I cannot explain it, but I do feel it. And when you say I will be a loved queen, I believe you with all my heart."

Last chapter coming up. Hope the translations worked this way.

Night's Darkness


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Owen kept Catalina carefully monitored, but he did not stay long around her, clearly unable to feel comfortable around the girl. Toshiko kept herself busy by watching the Rift. Gwen went out for food and handled the calls. And Ianto sat next to Catalina's bed and refused to move. At first Gwen thought he was being kept there out of guilt. But then she started to wonder if there was more to it. With Ianto things were never that simple.

So, the day after Ianto had given Catalina the drink, Gwen went down to give him his lunch, and found him with his hands folded in prayer. Out of respect, she waited for him to look up before making her presence known.

"I brought you some food. You need to eat."

"Not hungry."

Gwen sighed and walked into the room, holding out the food. "You haven't eaten since yesterday. When I was watching over Jack you made me eat. Consider this payback."

Ianto grimaced but accepted the food. Gwen grabbed a second chair and sat down next to him, watching him eat. Finally she asked in as light a voice as she could manage,

"Are you in love with her?"

Ianto froze, fork halfway to his mouth. He glanced at Gwen, then set down the fork and sighed,

"Not like that."

"How like what?"

"I'm not in love with her in the way that I want to sleep with her, or anything like that. I just… I know her. I mean, I know her life, I know what will happen to her. Lisa and I went to her grave and I saw a woman laying flowers on her grave. I asked her why and she said, 'How can you not love her? Even if you don't agree with her beliefs, she fought for everything she had, lost everything she had, but never once did she give up. She's a survivor.' And she is. But more than that, she pretty much dies for her principles, for her determination to preserve her daughter's place in life, for the man she gave her life to. I can't explain it, I just… I admire her. I mean, if you were thrown into a situation like this, don't you'd think you'd fall apart, even for a moment?"

Gwen nodded, "Yeah. I think I would."

"She didn't. Not once did she lose composure or strength. How can you not admire strength like that?" asked Ianto, prodding at his food.

"I guess…" Gwen wasn't so sure.

"You don't think she's that strong now you know she's anorexic." saidIanto, proving he was once again a mind reader.

"I just… I guess I don't see how she could have just let herself be thrown away. Why didn't she fight harder?"

"She couldn't have fought harder. Sometimes the circumstances limit what you can do. She was a woman, she had to obey her husband, and she took that very seriously. So she could not be seen openly disobeying him. She was trapped by her time, by her gender, by everything, and she still fought."

Gwen sighed, "Is there a bit of hero worship in there Ianto?"

"Absolutely." said Ianto without preamble. Gwen smiled grimly and prodded his side.

"Eat."

Ianto picked up his fork again and resumed eating.

* * *

As the hours slipped by and Owen and Tosh prepared for the final stage of the plan, there was little for Gwen and Ianto to do, so they stayed at Catalina's side. Ianto had given Gwen the address for the dry cleaners he used and she had Catalina's dress washed quickly and the girl was redressed in her original clothing. If it hadn't been for the drip and machines, she would have looked like Sleeping Beauty.

Gwen pointed this out to Ianto, who winced.

"What?"

"You've never read the original version, have you?"

"No…" Gwen said slowly, almost afraid of the answer.

"In the original, she isn't kissed. Princes come and have sex with her body and she's eventually woken up when she gives birth to twins."

"Oh… thanks for ruining a part of my childhood."

"You're very welcome." Ianto sighed and sat back in his chair. "When Catalina marries Henry and gets pregnant after the wedding, she miscarries a child, but because of an infection, her stomach stayed swollen, and so she was told she was expecting twins and the other child was still alive."

"Can that happen?"

"Yep. Wouldn't say its common, but it's not uncommon either."

"… Why do you know that?"

"I make it a point of knowing everything. Also, one of my co-workers in Torchwood One lost a twin and for some reason decided I would be the one she confided in." Ianto swallowed hard then said quietly, "She was converted in her seventh month."

Gwen shuddered, wrapping her hand around his wrist, wondering if he had been forced to witness it. No, she didn't think so. Ianto would probably have jumped in front of her to protect her and her unborn baby and if he had done that, he would not be sitting here telling her this.

"Yr ydych yn anhygoel Ianto Jones, chi'n gwybod hynny? Sut yr ydych mor gryf?" she whispered. Ianto sighed again, covering her hand with his own.

"Mae'n jyst rhywbeth rydych yn dysgu. Hoffwn nad oeddwn i wedi ei angen i ddysgu ohono."

Gwen closed her eyes, feeling tears in her eyes as she shifted closer and wrapped her arms around his bicep, cuddling close and resting her head on his shoulder. Words failed her and she just wished she could do something, anything to help him. Her eyes stung all the more when Ianto shifted and wrapped his arm around her, holding her close as if she was the one who needed comfort.

* * *

"I'm going to give her the misoprostol." said Owen. They had driven out back to where Catalina had originally been left behind. The hope was that she would be put back where she had been.

"The Rift is beginning to stir." said Toshiko quietly as Ianto lay Catalina down on the ground and Owen knelt down next to her and quickly injected her with the drug. "Here it comes, we'd better move out of the way."

Owen and Ianto got to their feet and Gwen took Ianto's hand as they hurried away. It seemed so wrong, like they were leaving Catalina to be swallowed by a monster. Sometimes it was hard not to think of the Rift like that. They returned to the road and watched as there was a soft glowing light that surrounded Catalina's still, prone body and then she was gone.

They stared for a long moment and then Owen asked,

"Did it work?"

"Well, do we remember her?"

"What year did she die?"

"1536." said Ianto at once.

"Who was she?"

"Queen of England, first wife to Henry VIII, mother to Queen Mary I."

"Sounds like it worked." said Toshiko, smiling grimly.

"Yeah. Is the Rift closed?" asked Gwen.

"All clear." said Toshiko.

"Ok. Let's get back."

Gwen let Toshiko in the passenger seat and Owen drove, so she could sit in the back with Ianto and try to offer silent comfort. The younger man had a broken look in his eyes she wanted to help get rid of.

The trip back was silent, the guilt at what they had done, and the pride that they had preserved history battling inside them. It was a relief to get back to the Hub.

"I think we need a drink. What about you?" said Owen as they trudged back into the Main Hub and Toshiko checked her screens.

"Yeah. Sounds good." said Gwen glancing around.

"Please." sighed Toshiko, seeming satisfied with what she saw. They all looked at Ianto, who, in turn, was reading something on a piece of paper. Gwen had seen him reading it before they left.

"Ianto?"

"This is her last letter to Henry." said Ianto quietly. "It was right before she died."

He held it out to Gwen, who took it and read it aloud.

_"My most dear lord, king and husband,_

_The hour of my death now drawing on, the tender love I owe you forceth me, my case being such, to commend myself to you, and to put you in remembrance with a few words of the health and safeguard of your soul which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the care and pampering of your body, for the which you have cast me into many calamities and yourself into many troubles. For my part, I pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly pray God that He will pardon you also. For the rest, I commend unto you our daughter Mary, beseeching you to be a good father unto her, as I have heretofore desired. I entreat you also, on behalf of my maids, to give them marriage portions, which is not much, they being but three. For all my other servants I solicit the wages due them, and a year more, lest they be unprovided for. Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things._

_Katharine the Quene."_

Gwen felt tears in her eyes again as she read the letter again. She heard Owen sigh,

"She'd never have gone through any of that if we hadn't killed her baby."

"We had to, it was what was meant to happen." said Toshiko reluctantly.

"Doesn't make it any easier." growled Owen. Gwen nodded in agreement, looking up at Ianto, who was clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Ianto…"

"Sometimes I really fucking hate this job!" he spat, turning away and walking out of the Hub without looking back. Not since Lisa had they seen him so upset.

"Someone should go after him." said Gwen.

"Not me." said Owen, "We'd end up arguing."

"If Jack were here…" said Toshiko quietly.

"Well he's not here. And we don't know if he'll come back." said Gwen fiercely, "So c'mon. Get your coats. We'll all go."

Reluctantly, Toshiko and Owen followed her out of the Hub and onto the Plass. Ianto was leaning on the railings, glaring out at the horizon. Gwen stepped up to him cautiously, wondering if maybe he needed to be alone. Then he looked at her, and she knew at once that if Jack were here he would not leave Ianto alone. So neither would she.

"C'mon Ianto." she said gently, looping her arm through his. "Let's go get pissed."

Ianto raised an eyebrow at her, then nodded, letting her pull him away from the railing and over to Toshiko and Owen, and together, they made their way to the nearest pub, where they would toast to a long dead princess, and quietly mourn their own actions, all the while knowing in their hearts that Jack would have been proud of them.

**The End**

* * *

I have severe doubts about the accuracy of the Welsh, but here's what I meant them to say.

1) "You are amazing Ianto Jones, you know that? How are you so strong?"

2) "It's just something you learn. I wish I hadn't needed to learn it."


End file.
